The overall interview process was messy. I first spoke with the manager of Team A, and then I was interviewed by five developers.

However, these five developers were not from Team A. They interviewed me for a different position, from Team B (I only learned this after completing all interviews with both teams).

After completing all the interviews with Team B, I received very positive feedback and was asked to wait. A week later, Team B decided to hire an internally referred candidate, even though they really liked my performance and background. The recruiter then proceeded to move my application forward with Team A after I was rejected by Team B.

This took another week for the interviews. I received another rejection after an additional week of waiting.

The recruiter stated it was a senior-level position in the update email, but the one I applied for was not a senior position. I sent an email asking about the position level issue but received no response.

In summary, I spent almost two months preparing for all the interviews, and I was interviewed by 10 developers across 2 teams. The good aspects are that the teammates were professional and nice, and the project they are working on is cool.

However, I gained nothing, even after receiving very positive feedback. Please do not post a position if you intend to hire an internal candidate. It was a total waste of my time.

Additionally, please have a clear and proper interview process and show more respect to candidates.

BQ, system design, and LeetCode style questions