The entire process, from first contact to the offer letter, took over two months. This felt like a very long time, likely due to the holidays at the end of the year. Despite the duration, I felt the two recruiters I was working with, Lina and Jai, were always in contact, providing updates and feedback.

All interviews were conducted online due to COVID.

I was initially contacted by Lina G on LinkedIn. We scheduled a phone call where she did an amazing job explaining the role and detailing what I should expect from the process. We also discussed my previous experience. Lina then assigned me to Jai, who would be my point of contact moving forward. Both recruiters were very professional and knowledgeable. Most importantly to me, they were always very quick to respond to my emails and calls.

They scheduled a first interview with another developer. This was primarily a technical interview, focusing on talking and answering questions about basic programming concepts, without any whiteboarding.

After that, I received a HackerRank technical assessment. It consisted of one very long question, which served as the data structures and algorithms portion of the interview process. I appreciated that it felt very realistic, like solving a genuine problem.

Following this, there was a full day of interviews, comprising four 45-60 minute sessions: two technical (coding) and two behavioral. All the interviewers did a good job of keeping the atmosphere non-stressful and conversational. Each interaction felt like a pleasant, technical, and interesting discussion.

After these interviews, I was informed that the role I initially applied for required a lot of experience, which I didn't quite meet. This wasn't entirely surprising, as I had sensed this from the questions and conversations. However, they had another role they believed I would be a great fit for. Consequently, another meeting was scheduled with who would be my manager for this second role. I liked the opportunity, so we moved forward.

They then had me speak with a current developer to ask him questions.

There was one final meeting with the hiring manager.

I spoke with a lot of different people during many interviews.

The technical questions varied greatly in difficulty, but none felt overwhelmingly hard.