I have interviewed twice over time at Indeed, both times without success.

First, I had an onsite interview that lasted a full day. I wasn't too bothered that I was declined, since I know I missed in a couple of places. That said, I was a little surprised at how difficult the interview was. I got the impression that Indeed was more inclined to get to "No" than to "Yes."

This is fairly common; many companies "window-shop" for the perfect fit but don't really have an urgent need.

Second, I did a technical screen with an outsourced company, Karat. The fact that Indeed outsources this part of the process is a little troubling. It tells me that they are processing so many resumes that it isn't even worth their time to be involved in the first pass anymore.

I feel like the Karat interview went well, and in my opinion, I passed it. The comments forwarded by the Karat interviewer seemed to be mostly in agreement, albeit with some nitpicks that I thought were overly critical.

Specifically, I was told:

• My answers to knowledge questions were "too thorough" (how is this a negative?)
• My code was "not maintainable."

Both of these criticisms seem over the line to me. In a coding quiz, it can be challenging enough to even get a working solution, and I felt like my solution was short and simple enough that no reasonable person should have had an issue.

Indeed decided not to proceed. I was offered the chance to redo the phone screen but decided not to. From my perspective, I passed the phone screen I was given, which should have been enough to at least get me onsite.

Indeed seems to be a decent company with a good reputation, but they also seem more inclined to get to "No" than any other company I have ever interviewed with over decades in this industry.

From my perspective, making a further investment in getting into this company doesn't seem worth it. I am near fifty, and when I was at Indeed, I didn't see too many people in my age range. It's possible they just tend to hire more junior/mid-level developers.

It may be worth it for others to try their luck with Indeed, but looking around these reviews on Glassdoor, I see similar sentiments; they are declining a lot of candidates. You have to wonder if it is worth your time.

Given a matrix of 1's and 0's, find the "rectangles" of 0's. You can find similar questions on sites like LeetCode.