I got a random email from a recruiter and decided to pursue it. The process took quite long (2+ months), but overall it was a good experience.

1. Recruiter screen - My recruiter was a great communicator and always responsive. They were one of the better recruiters I talked to during this job search.

2. Technical phone screen - They asked what would be considered a LeetCode easy if it were on LeetCode, but it's not really a LeetCode type problem. It's just a simple string manipulation problem. I appreciated that it is somewhat unique and not just a cookie-cutter algorithm problem. One other atypical thing is that there were two interviewers on the screen as opposed to just one.

3. On-site - They focus on culture fit and technical chops about 50/50. There are only two technical interviews: one system design and one coding. The coding was quite easy, just cookie-cutter LeetCode easy problems. I easily finished two optimally in the time allotted. The system design one was a bit harder to read; my interviewers were not very chatty, and I just went along with my design without them asking too many questions. I think I did well, but it's hard to say if I was doing what they expected me to do. The non-technical interviews were a bit atypical for engineering interviews, I would say; they were only thirty minutes each and very generic job interview type questions rather than specific to engineering. One thing I should mention is that every interview had at least two interviewers (I've never seen this before), which I guess was fine if not a little distracting.

Another thing I noticed is that the engineering team I talked to was quite diverse – a Black engineer, a Hispanic engineer, and more than one woman engineer. That was a bit refreshing and not what I am used to.

Overall, I had a good experience, and I thought I did quite well in the interviews, but ultimately I was not given an offer. The NYT seems like a great place to work, and I was really bummed they didn't make an offer (and I don't really know where I messed up; they did not provide detailed feedback).

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