I was contacted by a recruiter, and after a quick talk about typical questions like "Why HubSpot?" and "Why do you want to leave your current position?", the recruiter sent me a code challenge.

You can decide when you want to do the code challenge; there's no pressure or deadline.

This code challenge involved consuming an API, receiving JSON, processing it using data structures, and sending a POST request with the solution. You have 3 hours to complete it, and you can use any programming language you want.

I completed it on time and correctly. The recruiter then contacted me to schedule a technical interview on-site. They either lacked resources or had more interviews scheduled, as they proposed conducting this interview the following month.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the interview was conducted via Zoom. The technical interview was divided into three parts:

• System Design: tinyURL
• Database: Create a social media platform
• Coding: nGram

I felt some of the interviewers lacked extensive experience conducting interviews, as it was difficult to understand their questions. I asked for examples to clarify them, but the examples provided were not very helpful. I believe they were more focused on following their company's interview guidelines than on the candidate they were interviewing.

Despite this, I was able to proceed and felt I performed well throughout all the interviews. There was no negative feedback from the interviewers during the process. In fact, after finishing each part, I asked if my answers were correct and if there were other ways to approach or improve the solutions. According to the feedback received during the interviews, I was doing well.

My surprise came when the recruiter contacted me again, stating they could not make me an offer because I didn't reach the required level. I asked for more feedback, and the recruiter provided it kindly.

The feedback was somewhat contradictory. It mentioned that I was able to solve all problems in all interviews, yet for the database part, it was written that I didn't show much knowledge about indexing. Conversely, in the system design part, it was written that I showed good knowledge about indexing. It seemed like random points were included just to justify a "No."

In my opinion, I didn't learn much from this interview process. I feel I was rejected before even starting these interviews due to the global situation with COVID-19.

If you are not going to hire or are setting an extremely high bar due to the situation, please inform candidates before they begin a process that takes almost two months.

Why do you want to leave your current position?