I interviewed twice for a Solution Architect role that paid up to $145-160k total compensation. This included a base salary of $105-120k, a bonus of approximately 10-15%, and restricted stock units that would vest over four years. Up to 80% travel was required.

(This information was provided by HR during the first interview.) I am sharing this for transparency, so others pursuing the same role can understand the expected compensation range.

Both initial interviews seemed to go very well. I was promised two deeply technical interviews, followed by a complex demo I would need to deliver. (The company stated they were hiring two of these roles monthly due to growth.) An offer seemed assured if these subsequent interviews and my demo were also successful.

During my first phone interview, I was asked to spend a couple of hours learning the software and build an example dashboard. I shared this with the interviewers. However, HR failed to hand it off to the next interviewer as I had expected. After I presented the dashboard to the second interviewer, he remarked that he was impressed, given I had no prior background in their specific product but had clearly picked it up quickly.

The disappointing aspect of the process was that I was an internally referred candidate. As such, I expected to be treated with a bit more consideration, especially being uniquely well-qualified and known from a competitor. However, the HR department dropped the ball several times regarding follow-up. My internal contact had to remind HR twice to contact me after they failed to respond to my follow-ups on more than one occasion.

After being congratulated and assured of more interviews, they dropped the ball again. They never followed up and did not respond to my email inquiring about scheduling the promised next two interviews. My internal contact was exasperated and reported the situation to their HR VP. My contact's complaint finally yielded a lackluster HR apology and response asking if I wanted to continue interviewing. I declined at that point, as it seemed they were insincere from the outset. Perhaps they had second thoughts about my candidacy, but they were not forthright about it.

The experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth regarding the organization. It's probably better once you get through the initial stages, but be wary of a recruitment process that might string you along.

The questions were perhaps too easy. There were a few technical questions about architecture, SSO, and web app tiers, but no challenging questions like "tell me about a project that failed." Both interviews were perhaps suspiciously soft.