The process took 1+ week.

The process started with a recruiter screening, which was positive and went smoothly. I then proceeded to the technical interview, which unfortunately turned into an extremely disappointing experience.

The interviewer was extremely hostile, aggressive, and rude throughout the interview. His manner of questioning felt more like an interrogation than a professional technical interview. I was repeatedly interrupted, challenged before I could finish explaining my reasoning, and felt that words were being put into my mouth.

I was told beforehand that I could use AI, but during the interview I was told I was not allowed to look things up. When I was writing a query, he told me not to use it and said he would help me, but then did not provide the help he had offered. The interviewer also made dismissive comments about my Python experience and what I supposedly did or did not know.

During a discussion about thread safety, I started explaining the relationship with the Python GIL, but he interrupted me and stated that thread safety had nothing to do with the GIL. I had to explain to him how the GIL and thread safety are connected and why the distinction matters. Again, I was interrupted before I could properly finish explaining my technical reasoning.

There were also disagreements around testing. When I described something as optimistic testing, he interpreted this as me saying that it “guarantees” something, which was not what I had said. I tried to clarify my point but was repeatedly interrupted and challenged.

The interviewer was so hostile and rude that I ultimately had to end the interview early, before we had finished. I have never experienced an interview conducted in this manner before.

Following the interview, I filed a formal complaint with Revolut regarding the interviewer’s conduct and my experience. Unfortunately, no one got back to me or provided any follow-up. This made an already disappointing experience even worse.

Technical interviews can be challenging, and I have no issue with being challenged on my technical knowledge. However, candidates should still be treated with professionalism and respect. The way this interview was conducted was completely unacceptable in my experience and has left me seriously questioning the interview culture at Revolut.

The interview covered Python, testing, thread safety, concurrency, the GIL, and writing queries/code as part of the technical assessment.