I applied online, and the process took 2 months.

I applied directly online. I was part of the blitz hiring round. I had an initial screening going over my background, and I was asked the top 3 things I look for in the workplace and my expected salary. You're given a prep guide after. I then had a live coding interview in Java that involved string manipulation and shortest path finding, and the person who conducted it was absolutely amazing. I got news I passed the round less than 24 hours later.

Then I had two separate behavioral interviews focused on different aspects of the company values: customer obsession, winning as a team, and balancing pragmatism with perfection. With the former, I was only asked questions around working as a team, though. Prepare STAR answers around the topic, as there will be follow-up questions based on your responses. The questions come from a set of prepared questions, and then the interviewers give their feedback to recruitment, who make the decision. I got news I passed that round 48 hours after the second behavioral interview.

The final stage was an in-person system design interview in Dublin that followed a fireside chat with the CTO and a couple of other members of leadership. I was asked to design a platform where people could place bets. The requirements were a lot easier than expected. After, there was a social which involved a tour of the wine distillery next door and dinner, plus a chance to chat with other candidates and current workers. I received a branded goody bag with some merch like socks, a notebook, pen, and mints, and I also received a thank-you card for attending the interview in person. After, there's a short debrief meeting discussing your experience and getting feedback. At this point, it seems like they're gauging interest and availability before extending an offer. All expenses were paid, and I got my money back in under 3 weeks. It took a week to hear back that I'd received an offer. All the interviewers were great and friendly.

At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the company, especially as I wanted to have my live coding interview be later, but the recruiter pushed for it to be sooner, claiming they were moving fast with hiring. However, meeting many colleagues made me excited about the company. I got feedback after each stage quickly. There was a 2-week gap between the behavioral interview and system design as it was in person, but that gave me a chance to practice as I'd never done it before.

Note that in the UK and Ireland, salary negotiation may not be possible due to their processes being different from the USA arm. I also like that you get a prep guide with useful info on the process. Recruiters were great and answered queries and gave feedback promptly. The reason why the experience gets average is because other logistics stuff, such as travel, took a long time to hear anything back on. Even as I onboard, the response is much slower. It took multiple emails right to the last working day before I was to travel to Dublin before I received information regarding flight and hotel bookings, which is not ideal when going to another country without having these details to hand sooner. Other than that, the recruitment process was great and less stressful than others. Like the job description said, they value aptitude over experience and knowledge of tech things.

The questions were: have I ever worked cross-functionally in a team where the team I depended on were underperforming, when did I make a mistake that affected the team and how did I handle it, how do I build trust going into a new team, when did I work with a dev with a different work style and how did I address this, when was team morale low and how did I increase it, and have I mentored a junior and they didn't agree with my teaching methods.

For the pragmatism and ambiguity one, I needed to prep some STAR stories around dealing with ambiguity and going ahead even if things weren't perfect. I was also asked my favourite backend project I worked on and what my most intellectually challenging project I worked on was. I was also asked about a time where I'd worked on an existing codebase.