The first step was a call with a recruiter who spoke at me for nearly an hour about the company. It was for a role I hadn't applied to, though I had applied for others. I barely had a chance to ask questions, and my main concern was passing the technical interview because I only have 5 years of experience and no CS degree. I asked her about the technical interview, and she talked a lot but didn't give me any answers except "we don't require you have a CS degree" and "I'll send you an email about how to prepare."

After getting approval from the hiring manager, she set up a technical interview and another call to "prep" me for it. I was confused because the email describing how to prepare mentioned practicing LeetCode, but then she said it would not be a LeetCode question. I asked several more clarifying questions about that, but despite how much she talked, it was obvious she had no clue. I shrugged it off, knowing that she's a recruiter, not an engineer. Again, I mentioned my concerns about passing the technical interview because I don't have the background to implement advanced data structures on the spot. My concerns were not addressed.

The technical interview was a practical problem that required using an advanced data structure, just as I had suspected. But without a CS degree, how could I be prepared to know how to use one of many data structures out of the blue with practice time of about two weeks? The technical interviewer was nice and didn't say much. I tried a brute-force method of solving but didn't finish.

So, it went kind of how I expected, but the most frustrating part was that upfront, the recruiter talked and talked about unhelpful things. When I got the email that I didn't pass, it was one line: "We've decided not to move forward with your candidacy." No feedback whatsoever. Despite taking up hours of my time over the phone, you couldn't give me any sort of personalized message?

My concerns about not being the engineer Roblox narrowly hires for, because of my practical (rather than traditional) background, were not considered and resulted in wasting hours for three people involved. It's fine if Roblox wants to interview that way, but maybe read my resume first and don't tell me I'm a potential candidate when I really am not.