After solving the take-home challenge, I had a phone screen where I had to solve one technical problem via Zoom. The interviewer started by saying that he didn’t know the problem and that I’d have to go through the problem a little blind. They also don’t provide test cases, so you can’t run your code anytime.

He didn’t know how to introduce the question or what he expected, nor what input I should expect. I kept asking questions, and he seemed not to understand what I asked. I walked him through my thought process until he understood that there was missing information.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later, he finally gave me the information that was missing. I was able to finish the problem, and two days later, I got a rejection.

I’m still not sure if when he said he didn’t know the problem and I’d have to go blind, it was a strategy to make the interviewer even more nervous. If companies expect interviewers to be clear while solving a problem, they should provide an interviewer who can understand clarifying questions about the problem. That was the worst experience ever.

It was some tree problem.