I had an absolutely dreadful experience with Revolut's hiring process.

Initially, I asked a friend who works at Revolut to refer me. However, my application seemed to disappear entirely from the system—no decline, no update, just gone, as my friend mentioned. That was odd, but I decided to apply manually for a position. Unfortunately, the result was the same: no response whatsoever.

Fortunately, I had a recruiter from Revolut in my network who quickly addressed the issue and scheduled an initial HR interview with another recruiter. The first interview went well, though there was some confusion, as the HR representative mistakenly thought I was applying for a mid-level Java role. The conversation was casual, covering some technical topics, and I was informed that for the next step—a live coding session—I should prepare my IDE and environment. They also assured me that I could take as much time as needed to prepare and that I would receive detailed feedback at every step of the process.

The live coding session involved implementing a URL shortener class with the necessary methods. It's important to note that the interviewer did not initially mention that there would be a second stage to this interview. Throughout the session, I explained my thought process aloud, outlined the API, and wrote tests before implementing the methods. I regularly checked in with the interviewer, asking if my approach was on track and how much time remained. Near the end, with about 5–10 minutes left, the interviewer asked me to focus on coding without explanation, saying he understood everything. It was only then that he mentioned the second stage of the interview. Despite this, I completed the implementation, and we moved on to the next stage, which introduced new requirements: limiting the storage to 100 URLs and ensuring that duplicate full URLs return the existing short URL rather than creating a new one. I quickly implemented these requirements and added simple tests. The interviewer seemed satisfied and invited me to ask questions at the end.

However, two days later—on a Saturday, no less—I received feedback with a rejection. The feedback stated, "The code was okay, your implementation was okay as well. The reason we can't proceed is the speed. We couldn't fully complete both stages." This response was shocking. Not only did the feedback not align with the actual interview experience, but it was also vague and uninformative. I had completed both stages, even though the interviewer had only mentioned the second stage toward the end. Additionally, the interviewer indicated that tests were optional but good to have. Despite writing tests and implementing both stages, I was told I didn’t fully complete the stages due to speed. In my opinion, it's the interviewer's responsibility to manage the time and guide the interview, not the candidate's.

In summary, my experience with Revolut's recruitment process was incredibly frustrating. There was a lack of coordination between steps, the feedback was nonsensical, and there was no way to follow up with questions due to "no-reply" emails. The only positive aspect of this process was the recruiter in my network, who was extremely helpful—kudos to her!

P.S. This is the first time in my life that someone has told me I code and think slowly, which is completely contrary to my actual abilities :)

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