The interview process consisted of a series of two phone screens followed by an onsite interview, based on the results of the initial phone screens. This was a typical process, and HR was quick to respond with scheduling.

The first phone screen covered basic software concepts and questions, along with a few verification-related questions. The interviewer was on time, introduced himself, explained his role within the company, and seemed organized. He asked meaningful, job-related questions.

The second phone screen was the polar opposite.

• The interviewer was just under 10 minutes late.
• He introduced himself and asked "puzzle" type questions where the rules changed as the interview progressed.
• After asking a question, I could hear him typing in the background and at times respond with "uh-huh..yeah" even when I wasn't speaking.

I was very surprised, given the company's reputation.

The first interview segment covered:

• Linked List traversal
• Fibonacci algorithm (basic and recursive)
• The difference in complexity between the basic and recursive approaches.

This section was relatively straightforward.

The second phone screen presented a puzzling question: "A person on a stairway needs to get from the bottom of the stairs to the top in the minimum number of steps... no, how possible combinations of steps... no, I don't think I explained that well... what if they could only take one step forward for every..." This question, despite its unclear phrasing, surprisingly led back to a Fibonacci sequence problem.

The next task involved reversing a singly linked list. The constraint was that no references or another linked list could be used. It was frustrating to have been interviewed by a less experienced interviewer.