I met with a current employee at Dropbox at a conference who encouraged me to apply based on my experience. They conveyed a lot of positive energy about the company culture and how much they wanted someone with my skill set, so I connected with a recruiter to discuss next steps.

From there, I received a technical screen "coding interview" that lasted an hour. There were 10-15 minutes of introductions and discussion about the position, and then the interview revolved around a single programming question. I found it had very little relevance to the position I was applying for. They were clearly looking for a specific answer in order to move you forward, and I did not arrive at the same answer they wanted within the allotted time. I received a curt, no-reply email later that night declining my application. It was really odd, after all the attention they put into convincing me to interview, to go completely cold.

In general, I really dislike the approach Dropbox took here in looking for the exact answer they wanted. Instead, they should evaluate the solution the candidate comes up with and discuss the pros and cons. Rarely in a work environment are you ever "alone" in coming up with a solution. Questions that are more relevant might include "You have a system you believe is experiencing an issue, what steps do you take?" or "Given a current bottleneck, design a system that overcomes the limitations."

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