Rounds were: screener call, call with eng manager, take-home project, and final interview (didn't get to the final interview due to a hiring freeze).

The engineering manager call was a straightforward talk about myself and experience. They were looking for someone enthusiastic about development and asked many questions to see if I was current with industry news.

The take-home project was really involved. It was supposed to be 4 hours maximum, but it took more like 12. You basically have to build a whole app complete with tests and an API. You can't share it on GitHub, unfortunately, and according to others, New Relic tends to ghost candidates.

I myself was not ghosted, but my feedback wasn't useful. Keep all this in mind before deciding to do it because it very well could be a big waste of time.

I had assumed I was ghosted, but after 2 weeks of waiting, New Relic called me to say a hiring freeze was implemented and they hadn't called because they had hoped it would be quickly lifted. I was given poor feedback on the take-home (just told all the engineers approved of it) and told they would call to schedule the final round when the freeze was lifted. I never heard back.

Overall, a neutral experience. The hiring freeze wasn't their fault, but the take-home is way too involved compared to other companies, especially since you can't add it to your portfolio.

How do you stay current in the industry?