Don’t even bother!

I was approached for a Lead // VP role and was initially sold a job where the team mates are excellent, the company is very responsive, and the feedback would be swift. I was then given a tech test and a week to solve (a typical download data from API and show in a tableview exercise).

Having passed this stage, I was called for an on-site tech interview where I would code on one side, and a couple of existing folks would sit opposite to me and watch my code on a screen placed facing them. This is where things started to take a turn for the worse.

Since the screen didn’t work, they both sat beside me and watched as I typed (not exactly comfortable having two folks sit at arm's length behind you and watch you code in an interview).

I supposedly passed this round and was invited to a final round, and this is where things got even worse and weird. The guy first said, “Oh, sorry, but we already offered someone else the lead//VP role – but we are still looking for another person in a non-lead position.” I said that should be fine, as it’s getting into the company that mattered to me and how much I got to learn.

Then one of the interviewer’s sentences was along the lines of, “Your live coding exercise performance wasn’t as good as your original code submission – leading us to think you may have copied the original code from elsewhere. What do you think?”

It was horrendous to be suddenly asked something like this, especially as I was responsible for typing every character in my original code test.

The penultimate nail in the coffin was when I was asked about my ex-colleagues who had joined JPMC about a year ago. The interviewer asked me, “How much better do you think you are compared to them?” Why on earth would you ask something like this? It was reflective of bad working culture.

Finally, despite all of this, they never came back to me about the outcome. Attempts to follow up with the recruiter over email and LinkedIn all fell on deaf ears. After investing several days for the test and holidays for the F2Fs, the least you would expect is an outcome and some feedback.

If the interview was like this, how do you think you’ll be treated once you join? Peer appraisals in an interview are a big red flag.

Having spoken to a few folks after (who all had very similar experiences), I have now sort of sworn off ever applying there again.

Typical tech questions around iOS (most of which are quite standard).

Competency-based questions around your CV.

“We think you copied your code. What do you have to say about that?” 🤷🏻‍♂️