I applied online and was invited to the first screening interview with a recruiter in early March.

Interview

1. Screening interview about your profile and background. I clearly stated on my CV that I need visa sponsorship, and I also mentioned this during the interview. I asked the recruiter to double-check if the company could provide visa sponsorship for me. She responded soon, approved that visa sponsorship could be arranged, and scheduled a technical interview.

2. Technical Assessment (1 hour)

• First 30 minutes: We discussed my background, and I described my last project. The interviewer took notes and asked about technologies. It didn't go smoothly, as nearly all the technologies I mentioned were new to the interviewer. She repeatedly asked if she had written them down correctly. She then mentioned her C++ experience, while my experience is mostly in Python. I believe that technologies like RabbitMQ are not language-specific. We spent a little over 30 minutes on this discussion.
• Remaining 20 minutes: A LeetCode Hard question. I was unable to finish it, so we discussed my approach. There were no language constraints.

Following this, the recruiter contacted me to schedule another meeting. We agreed on a specific day, but she canceled it and sent an email congratulating me on passing and outlining the next steps.

1. Round 2: Virtual onsite interview (~5 hours long)

• Craft demo coding session (~1.5 hours). The interviewer was nice and helpful.
• Brief presentation of your profile and the project from the previous segment (~1 hour). Follow-up discussion about the choices made during the craft demo coding, potential drawbacks, and enhancements. All the interviewers were very nice.
• 1 hour - LeetCode Medium. No language constraints. Here, two interviewers seemed to disagree about the output and requirements.
• 45 minutes - LeetCode Easy. No language constraints.
• 30 minutes - Behavioral interview. The overall experience of this interview stage was very positive, as all interviewers were nice and helpful. It was a great pleasure to speak with them.

The recruiter contacted me soon after and congratulated me on passing, stating they were preparing an offer. However, they had not yet agreed on my level or the best team fit, so discussions with two hiring managers were needed. She scheduled two calls with the hiring managers.

1. Interview with hiring manager (~30 minutes). We discussed team responsibilities, products, and my interests. This was also a very positive experience.

Subsequently, the recruiter sent an email regarding a visa and immigration questionnaire. I completed and returned it, reiterating my need for visa sponsorship (and noting that the H1B visa application period had already passed).

After this email, the recruiter scheduled and then canceled a meeting with the second hiring manager several times.

Finally, she called to inform me that they had unfortunately decided not to proceed further with my application. I asked for details and feedback on areas for improvement, but the recruiter declined to provide specific feedback.

The overall interview and interviewer experience was positive. However, I feel the recruiter's approach was unprofessional. I understand my case is somewhat unusual, but it felt like a waste of time for both sides. The recruiter did not spend enough time researching my visa sponsorship request initially, only to revisit the issue at the end when it was too late.

1. LC hard (matrix)

2. Develop a simple and small REST API application with two endpoints. No language constraints.

3. LC medium/easy