I interviewed for a Staff Backend Engineer role and passed all interview sessions with positive outcomes. My recruiter then indicated they would extend an offer, but I first needed to select a team to join. They organized some team calls to introduce potential groups. After these calls, I emailed my recruiter about my team choice, stating I was interested in Team A and B, but leaning towards Team B.

My recruiter then arranged a call and said I would receive an offer for Team A, with the compensation details to follow. I reiterated that Team B was my number one choice and asked if there was a possibility of changing teams. My recruiter agreed to the request, explaining they would need to re-run the offer process and obtain approval from different managers.

A few days later, my recruiter informed me that the manager of Team B wanted to meet with me. I didn't have a formal "team sell" call with them, as one of my interviewers was their director. I spoke with the manager.

After a few more days, my recruiter arranged another meeting. During this meeting, she stated they had decided not to extend an offer. The manager of Team B reportedly felt I was not motivated for their specific team, though I showed motivation for Datadog generally. Similarly, the manager of Team A also decided against proceeding with their offer, as they perceived I was not motivated for their team either.

I invested three months in this process, participating in numerous interview calls, including: Hiring Manager PS, coding interview, system design interview, behavioral interview, technical presentation interview, and countless recruiter calls. This is the outcome.

My recruiter suggested I should have been more direct about my team choice. However, they had not received confirmation from me about the team for which they were preparing an offer. I initially believed the team calls were for me to assess the teams, not for me to be evaluated, which was apparently not the case. My recruiter did not mention the potential risks when I inquired about changing teams. During the team calls, most of my questions were about the specific team, rather than generic questions about Datadog.

I also have another FAANG offer, which I mentioned to my recruiter. She advised that they might not match the compensation package. While I understand that, the primary reason I considered Datadog was its potential as a more people-oriented company with better work-life balance. I am uncertain if this influenced my recruiter's reluctance to find another team for me.

NDA. But you can find themes of their sessions easily on the Internet.