I applied for the Backend Engineer position at the Shanghai office. I passed the online test and proceeded to the next round, which was a conversation with HR.

She promised a time to call me, but the call was later than scheduled. I had prepared for some frequently asked questions, but none of them came up.

As I know multiple programming languages, I was asked to rank them. I told her they were almost the same to me (I think she preferred Java). I was then asked if I knew about large-scale distributed systems. I mentioned that I had handled a cluster of up to 20 servers. She stated that I couldn't handle a 100+ server cluster, so I was not a suitable candidate.

I would like to know if these are the real requirements for a Backend Engineer at Booking.com.

Additionally, I saw that the position was closed before she called me, which is disappointing. I don't think they were actively hiring.

Are you good at setting up large-scale distribution systems?