After a phone call, I was given a long programming problem with a week to finish. I finished and submitted the programming problem and was invited for an on-site interview.

During the on-site interview, we reviewed the code in person, and the tech director was very pleased with my solution. When he learned about my NoSQL experience, he brought in a team member to sit in on the interview to learn about the pros and cons of NoSQL so he too could implement it at Tempus himself. Free knowledge sharing disguised as an interview - how ethical, right?

My last interview was with the Chief Operating Officer (VP at the time, or something). He asked why I was leaving my old job. When I answered that it was because I really liked the position offered at Tempus and found the work interesting, he started accusing me of trying to mislead him about the reason. He repeated the question multiple times, and when I answered genuinely the same way, he got frustrated and told me I was not telling him the full story.

He later told the recruiter that I didn't seem interested in the position and seemed to still like my old job. Really, that's the reason why I didn't get an offer.

Take-home programming problem