I applied online. The process took 3 weeks.

I sent in my CV, and I had a screen that was a call about my background and a series of questions just testing my general backend experience. I got given a take-home test, and I was told to spend a few hours on it. I did the test in about 2 and a half hours, submitted it, and had another interview to talk about my solution. The interview went well, and I felt like I answered all the interviewer's questions, and the general feeling was positive. The interviewer told me it might take a couple of days to get back to me. It took a week and a half and multiple emails to the recruiters to get a reply.

The feedback from them seemed to indicate that other candidates had written more for the take-home (I guess a "few hours" is open to interpretation) and therefore had more to discuss in the follow-up. Overall, I didn't dislike the process, but it feels like they could improve it by either being more specific about how much time to spend on the take-home (though that can be ignored by candidates) or making the specs required for the take-home specific. The current system rewards people who spend tons of time on the test, which doesn't feel like something they should reward.

Also, I'm not sure if it was just a nice way to let me down, but I feel a company the size of Monzo shouldn't really be putting candidates against each other. Surely they have needs for backend engineers (the position is still taking candidates), and is selecting "winners" of each batch of applicants the best way to get engineers rather than setting a bar and hiring engineers that meet those requirements?

How would you implement a lock?