The first two interviews with HR and the phone screen went great. Then my terrible experience follows (this may sound like a paragraph of excuses, but bear with me).

I applied through a recruiter and really relied on her for next steps. I had repeatedly asked if there was anything I needed to do or prepare for the last interview, which I was told no; it was just conversational and meet-and-greets. I got the itinerary to be in Ames for 4 hours. At this point, I should have gone with my gut and done my due diligence. No, I blindly took her word for it and was thrown into a 4-hour grilling (not terrible, but hell for anyone unprepared).

I answered poorly. I knew it. They knew it. I wasn't prepared to explain projects or pass a simple tech screen. Which leads to the next point that ultimately delivered the certain death of my candidacy.

Again, I was not in the least bit prepared (my fault, I know; I should have just prepped like normal instead of listening to a recruiter), and I hadn't done any back-end work in 3 months, as I was at a client for front-end only. Let me list why it was bad:

• It was a tech screen others got to do at home. Not a big deal, except they had a chance to get familiar with CoderPad. I didn't.
• They used MacBooks, so typing on them was like typing on glass shards.
• Their whiteboard wasn't working. All there was was a pen and paper.

In summary, I had to do a tech screen that was infinitely harder, where other candidates had a chance to familiarize themselves with CoderPad (its autocomplete benefits), a chance to actually know they were getting a tech screen, their own mouse and keyboard they were comfortable with, a whiteboard, and actual time to prepare for it. I got a pen, paper, and two guys looking over my shoulder (they were super nice and professional, though).

Of course, there was no feedback. I don't need it to know why I failed it. Any competent mid-level could pass it, so obviously failing something you know you could pass would be frustrating as all hell.

Plenty of blame to go around, but do your due diligence like normal, and you'll be fine. Don't be like me and assume everything is awesome.

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