I applied online through the GitHub career site. Two days later, I was emailed two open-ended technical questions requiring 0.5 to 1-page responses. After that, there were three technical interviews (video chat), approximately one week apart. One of these involved exploring a Linux box in a shared SSH session.

The on-site interview consisted of behavioral questions ("tell me about a time when...") with the recruiter, CTO, managers, and team. This was followed by lunch with a manager and a lead from two teams I was considering. The day concluded with one technical session with two GitHubbers where I was given a computer and ultimately wrote a pull request to achieve a prescribed task. The day ended with an impromptu video chat with a third manager that was arranged while I was walking back to the hotel. I was actually interviewing for spots on multiple teams, and these teams worked together well. I took this collaboration as a very positive sign for how the job would go.

Two business days after the interview, I was asked to make a final decision on which team I wanted to join, and then I received the offer.

The travel to HQ in San Francisco was reasonable and worked around my commitments to my existing job and my personal schedule. The airfare, hotel, and ground transportation to and from the airport in San Francisco were paid directly by GitHub. The reimbursement for incidental expenses like meals and parking was prompt and complete, and I even got to pick an Octocat T-shirt upon departure.

A typical sysadmin SSHs into a Linux box.