A recruiter gave them my details without my permission.

The HR person impressed me as nice and honest, so I decided to proceed.

There were several steps:

• Phone screening with HR
• Technical conversation with a developer
• Technical interview + behavioral panel with 2 interviewers

HR phone screening: The screening was a simple conversation to ensure both my needs and the company's needs were aligned, and we both expressed interest in continuing the process. I expressed my desire to work remotely, and the HR agreed since they operate in a hybrid mode. We agreed to proceed to the technical phone screening, which was scheduled for 30 minutes.

Technical phone screening: The interviewer stated the conversation could take between 30-45 minutes. I let them know I only had 30 minutes to dedicate to the meeting, as agreed.

In the end, there was plenty of time due to how easy the technical part was. I commented that the exercises were not difficult if you knew the ground rules very well. The interviewer seemingly thought I was arrogant. So, if you are a true senior of high ability and experience, I would suggest playing nice and dumb, and commenting on how difficult the exercise was.

Perhaps even pretend to take your time solving the exercises.

I didn’t ask many questions; I said I would ask them in the next phase. That was a mistake. They apparently like talkative people; you should ask as many questions as possible.

Don’t rush the interview.

You should also probably match yourself to them as much as possible. I got the impression they are looking for copies or clones.

The Technical + Behavioral panel: 2 interviewers.

Once I actually saw the interviewers, I estimated a high probability of being discriminated against due to ageism or whatever reason dreamed up to mask it in order to avoid a legal issue.

Technical part: The technical level was higher than the previous screening but still something I would expect for a junior position. A positive point for them is that they considered the idea that interviews are stressful situations, and if I made a silly mistake, they helped by (indirectly) pointing it out so we could move on.

Behavioral part: They asked many questions, which I've added below. I also asked questions about the company’s workflow and onboarding process, how they work in different teams across different time zones, their communication style, and more.

The decision to reject was made practically on the spot, but they only informed me about a week later.

I got some honest feedback from the nice HR person. I was amazed since Israeli companies generally work very hard to hide the internals of their process.

• I got the impression the desire to work remotely was an issue.
  • Perhaps the company intends to do full office work after a while?

As expected, my technical skills were more than sufficient. However, what played against me was (the official version, at least):

• Appreciation for a structured workflow and good onboarding process. Apparently, they have a messy workflow and bad onboarding.
• Not "sharing a lot" of past work. (How do you define "a lot"?)
• Not “seeming interested" in working for the company. They excused that by saying I didn’t ask questions (except I did ask).

It’s hard to take any such feedback seriously. I normally discard anything that is based on how things “seem/sound/feel” and any conclusions made not based on empirical data to back them up.

That last one ("not seeming interested") is especially ridiculous.

Keen readers will note this implies the candidate is being dishonest and is an impostor, as though they had some plan to interview/work in the company for nefarious purposes and are masking their true intent.

The notion that a candidate spends (unpaid) time but is not interested in working for the company, and is even being dishonest about it, is ludicrous.

I believe they came up with the last one just to make up a valid, non-discriminating reason, but I’m not sure that is actually a good reason since it might be considered libel with regards to the candidate’s character.

The HR was puzzled by that false impression after the previous phone screen sync conversation we had.

She actually wanted to plead my case—to tell the interviewers they got the wrong impression.

I told her not to bother because I did not believe that any reason given/written was anything but a mask for the truth, which was probably a personal (most likely discriminating) issue.

She tried anyway... and failed to change the outcome, as expected. (Though, to be accurate, I have no proof of the attempt beyond her claims.)

Overall, I would say the process was disrespectful and a waste of time. At least it was for me.

What is important to you?

Why do you want to work remotely? What are the advantages?

What sort of projects have you done?

Tell me about a project you took a big part in.

How do you approach a project for something you have no experience in, like using a new technology or tool?

How do you learn new materials?

Have you worked in a team?

How do you collaborate in a team?

Do you ask team members for help?

Did you work on open-source projects?

Describe the workflow in your last workplace.

Did you work with product managers or UI/UX people?

How do you communicate?

Are there code reviews?

What is your part of the team regarding tasks?

Have you received a design or specification that was wrong or needed change from product or UI?

Is there a build pipeline where you work?

Are there production environments?

Who does tests? Are there QAs?

What sort of tests do you use?

Integration tests? E2E tests?

What are important technologies you have used?

Do you have an example of a bad code experience or a bad framework?

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