A recruiter contacted me via LinkedIn and arranged a telephone interview. I performed well, and the interviewer asked me to come in for an onsite interview.

To save time, I asked the recruiter to condense the interviews into one afternoon instead of a full day.

The interview process was different from other companies; there was no hiring manager, only an interviewing panel. Some of the interviewers seemed focused on reviewing my qualifications.

I spoke with five people, and the questions were easy for someone with my experience, unlike textbook brain-teasers or dynamic programming problems. I felt positive about the process.

Afterward, the recruiter mentioned they needed to collect feedback and submit the results to the hiring committee.

However, the process took too long. After two weeks with no response, despite being asked to wait patiently, I received an offer from another company. I contacted them to check on my status. They stated I wasn't a "perfect fit" and decided not to proceed.

Write a function to calculate X^N.