The application process begins online, where you're given the option of completing one of three tasks:

• Create a Shopify store to experiment with the product.
• Complete a coding challenge.
• Discuss an idea you'd create for a hackathon, as they host their own hackathon each term.

I chose to complete all three.

Next, I was invited to the "life story" interview. This is essentially a discussion about your personal story with a recruiter. It's important to make it interesting and avoid a boring narrative. They aim to understand who you are as a person to determine if you'd be a good fit for their team. While it's suggested you don't need to plan this ahead, as you're just talking about yourself, I found it helpful to jot down some bullet points to guide my discussion.

Following that, you'll typically be invited to another interview with two developers. Half of this interview focuses on discussing a project you've worked on. You'll go through your code, explaining its meaning and your rationale. I was asked questions about how I would improve certain features of my project. The other half is a real-life technical challenge, where you're asked to explain how you would code a solution. You won't be writing code, but rather explaining your approach, including data structures and edge cases to consider. I found this aspect to be a refreshing departure from typical HackerRank questions.

I received my offer approximately one month after the technical interview. Overall, my experience was wonderful and unique. Everyone I interviewed with was very relaxed, and I felt comfortable speaking with them. The only concern I encountered was that my mention of competing offers and deadlines seemed to be largely ignored. Fortunately, I was able to accept their offer regardless.

How would you go about implementing this real-life system?