One phone fit assessment, which led to two successive phone technical screens. The conversations in each session were very interesting and stimulating.

This then led to a one-day onsite interview, consisting of:

• One session of pair programming. The interviewer was super helpful, coding in languages I was not familiar with based on my questions and suggested solutions. We worked on a real bug/enhancement reported by a customer. I thought I had asked all the right questions and implemented the solution. I did ask the interviewer if all the issues reported were addressed, and I was given the impression of a "yes."

• One session of a technical interview. I spoke for a few minutes longer, leaving about 40 minutes for the real problem. The basics of the problem involved finding the top K values from a dataset. I immediately knew a heap solution was needed. In my rush, I took longer to determine if it was a min-heap or max-heap before starting the implementation. My interviewer was interested in the heap solution and mentioned he learned something new. I discussed the implementation of a heap as an array and, as requested, started implementing a min-heap as an array, adding an extension for top-K. It had been about 20 months since I had implemented a heap as an array, so straightening out the jumble of thoughts in my brain and putting it to code did not get finished in the remaining time. I am not the kind of developer who can implement a min-heap in arrays and add a top-K extension as almost working code in 40 minutes; it takes me slightly longer.

• One session of a cultural fit interview. We spoke about 'why Gusto,' how I would react to hypothetical scenarios, and my professional history. I felt like this was a place I would love working at!

All three interviewers were extremely congenial. As a trained engineer, I reacted in a binary format: a nod and words of praise meant approval. It was only later in the evening, when I mentally went through other Glassdoor reviewers' experiences, that I realized the interviewers were congenial by nature, but this in no way guaranteed approval. I was proven right when I was told my candidacy would not go through. In their opinion, I was below their expectations in the pair programming and technical interview sessions.

Why am I writing this review? I liked their product. I liked what I read about the company, its culture, and how they developed their product in relation to the customers they serve. All the people I interacted with were super nice. It's just that I do want to make future interviewers aware that a congenial smile or praise does not mean you have their vote. As is their prerogative, they make choices based on their hiring philosophy, knowing "what makes a person great at Gusto." I enjoyed the process and found it worth my time.

Problem solving. Not difficult.