I went through the early stages of the Databricks interview process and found the experience quite underwhelming.

The first interview was a chat with a recruiter. While they were friendly, I got the impression that they weren’t very familiar with the company’s technical work or core products. It was difficult to get clear answers to basic questions about what the company actually does. This felt frustrating, especially considering that recruiters are the first gatekeepers in the process.

The second interview was a technical one. The interviewer was polite but seemed disengaged and rushed. There was minimal introduction or conversation before jumping directly into coding. The problem given was a standard algorithmic question (similar to "438. Find All Anagrams in a String" found on LeetCode), and although the task itself was fair, the communication style made the experience uncomfortable. I was asked to analyze time complexity before even writing the code, which felt a bit premature for a graduate-level interview.

Overall, the process felt somewhat impersonal and inconsistent in quality. I left with the impression that some interviewers were not fully invested in creating a positive candidate experience. Databricks is clearly a strong company, but I hope they work on improving the consistency and clarity of their early-stage interviews.

1. Find All Anagrams in a String