I was recruited for a specific position, but told that I had to pass the general technical interview before I could be considered.

The recruiter was very accessible and worked with my schedule to set up everything. There was no rush at all.

The interview itself was okay. I felt like the people assigned to evaluate my PhD research project had no background at all, while the person assigned to my technical interview would have been much more appropriate (and he had trouble following my solution in the technical interview).

NDA applies here. Cracking the Coding Interview is a very good indication of what you will encounter, though. Focus on coding quickly and understanding seemingly simple questions inside out.