Applied on LinkedIn, sent the job poster a message, and he messaged me back about a week later to set up a quick chat. Talked with him about the company, the project, and the team he was trying to build. During this conversation, I asked him about remote work since most of EA's job postings specify something like "Austin, TX (On-site)", but this one was "Austin, TX (Remote)". He told me that it's really up to the managers (him) and he was fine with his team working remotely and distributed. I was not open to relocation, so this worked for me.

Next steps were:

• A phone call with Talent Acq.
• A ~4 hour panel interview.

Panel consisted of:

• Technical screen of Array-based LC easy questions
• Technical screen of a String-based question and SQL-related questions
• Cross-functional interview (how you work with stakeholders)
• Interview with the HM's direct report

After going through all of that, I was feeling really positive about the experience and was really excited to work at EA. It took about a week for the recruiter to get back to me, and he told me that the team loved me and thought I'd be a great fit. However, they only want to move forward with an offer if you relocate, as they feel like you would be MORE successful in-person with the team.

That's a pretty vague reason, so in my mind, remote work at EA is a bait-and-switch tactic to pressure candidates into relocating, and/or, a disrespectful and indirect way to deny candidates that are looking to work remotely. After taking some time to consider relocation, I emailed my recruiter and cc'd the hiring manager and asked if there was any way we could work around the sudden relocation requirement.

I have yet to hear back. YMMV.

Some LC easy questions about arrays.

SQL & data modeling skill assessments.