Heartbreaking. All interviews went very well—technical, cultural, etc.—until the seventh and final coding exercise, which turned out to be more of a riddle than a technical challenge.

This exam was a paired prompt where you're tasked to build a fairly straightforward UI in React that a junior developer could probably handle without much guidance. There were zero JavaScript or algorithm fundamentals tested, not even any remotely esoteric React bits (I offered to use some of the fancier hook APIs, and they specifically told me not to).

I crossed my Ts and dotted my Is. I asked before moving onto each step if the interviewer would like to spend more time there, but they declined. I asked if there was any more material, like a proper design asset, but was told no, just use this blurry screenshot. I finished early and offered to dive deeper into what I submitted with the extra time, but they declined. They said it was great as it was and wanted to move on to Q and A. I thought it was a lock.

Well, it wasn't. I was rejected due to a signal that my performance was fine, but not "strong enough." There was no elaboration. Previous steps in the process that they gave me positive feedback on were much more challenging—in fact, I've never had an easier final interview in my entire career.

While the people I met were very nice and thoughtful, it's hard to come away with any conclusion other than there were factors outside of my control that they weren't able to disclose. If you look at a few of the other negative reviews, mystery rejections at the final step aren't uncommon, which gives me the impression that there is some funny business going on behind the scenes at Notion.

Build a UI in React.