A demeaning interview process.

First, I was sent an IQ test. This took about an hour and was actually kind of fun.

Next, I got a 3-hour coding test. Typical HackerRank-style questions, not too difficult, although time was short.

After this, there was radio silence for about a month. I assumed I'd failed the coding test, but finally, I was contacted to do a video interview. Basically, I had to spend an hour recording myself answering algorithm questions. AFAIK, I got the questions right, but didn't make the cut and was rejected after this. I have a feeling I was rejected because I didn't go to a big-name school, which they should have known already.

So basically, 5+ hours of take-home testing, spaced out over months, without ever talking to a human. Bad experience.

Still, here are some interview tips (without giving away questions):

• It's all algorithms and data structures. So do lots of HackerRank, etc.
• They like to give questions with complicated instructions. So be prepared to read and carefully analyze problem requirements.
• Know basic algorithms (e.g., lots of sort algorithms, binary search, DFS) and data structures (trees, hash tables, heaps) well.
• Be prepared for a design question; you'll need to very quickly understand the requirements of a problem and indicate what algorithms/data structures are appropriate.

Algorithms, data structures. Reading and understanding requirements quickly is important.