I had an opportunity to test myself at Canva. I passed five interviews and expected to get feedback in 2-3 days, as informed by the recruiter, but there was no reply.

The interview process consisted of five stages:

• Initial Tech Interview: A LeetCode-style problem focusing on data structures and algorithms.
• Final Interviews:
  • Architecture: This was the most controversial section. It was neither a classical software system design interview nor a frontend architecture interview where you design from scratch with initial requirements. The interviewer simply asked me to design an app that included a list of data, with no requirements or context provided. What surprised me most was that the interviewer did not answer clarifying questions and did not state their expectations.
  • Programming Language Fluency: I was asked to implement a part of a popular game using plain JavaScript, with no theoretical questions about JavaScript, browser APIs, etc.
  • Technical Review & Technical Comms: I discussed with other Canva engineers what was wrong with a particular piece of code and what advice I would give to the author. This resembled a code review.
  • Strategy, Communications & Leadership: This was a classical behavioral interview, where I was asked about achievements, leadership, ownership, disagreements, etc.

Three weeks later, I received feedback on the interview process, detailing where I performed well and where I failed.

Tell me a time when you didn't achieve what you had planned.