I was applying remotely for a Senior Software Engineer role in Zendesk Explore, Dublin.

There was an initial exploratory call from the recruiter, followed by a phone screening round. The interviewer asked me a design cum coding round, which went well.

This was followed by a full interview consisting of 4 rounds: 1 coding, 2 design, and 1 hiring manager round. Since I was remote, all rounds were done over Zoom. The interview experience was good. The interviewers were very mature and gave enough room for discussion. Although, for me, the hiring manager round didn't happen.

After a week, I got a confirmation from the recruiter that the interview discussion went well and I had positive feedback. However, she would get back to me after discussing with the Director of Engineering.

They took almost 2 weeks to get back. I had applied for Team Lead, Senior Software Engineer, and Staff roles. They said they would decide on the role based on how the interview went and the feedback, finding the right fit. But ultimately, they didn't roll out an offer despite positive feedback because some of these positions were filled internally, and the Senior role was not a direct fit. I felt the decision was absurd, especially after they acknowledged the feedback was positive. The hiring manager or Director responsible for the team never had a final discussion with me, which makes me feel they were biased or had reservations, unwilling to recognize/reward the talent.

Although the technical interview experience was good, the overall experience was really bad with multiple back-and-forths. Advice to the recruitment and leadership team: be more open and fair to the candidates. If you are not willing to make an offer to a remote candidate, be upfront during the selection process, and don't reject them due to positions getting closed or profile suitability after going through the complete interview process with positive feedback.

1. Design and code elevator operations.
2. Design and code for an application cache.
3. Design a bike rent service.
4. Design an event-driven system.