I applied through another source. The process took 2 weeks.

I was contacted by Zopa after publishing my profile on talent.io. The initial call was with an internal recruiter. I had some questions with regard to their development and deployment process, as well as technologies they were using, which the recruiter could not answer, but they scheduled a quick call with one of their developers for me. When I was satisfied with the answers to my questions, they asked me to do a technical assignment. While it was interesting, was in the domain of lending which the company operates in, and required doing some research into monthly compound interest, I found the requirements to be quite broad, especially when providing a production-quality solution which included thorough tests and handling of possible invalid inputs. I was unemployed at the time of working on the assignment, but I can see how it could be a big ask for people who are in active employment. I shared my views on the scope of the assignment being too broad in one of the later interviews, and they seemed to take that on board. After submitting the solution to the assignment, I was contacted within 5 days to schedule a technical interview with a developer over the phone. I found the interview with the developer to be the low of the whole process. The person interviewing did not provide much of an introduction, but just started shooting what at times seemed to be random questions at me. Again, I provided feedback about that at a later stage, and it seemed to be taken on board.

After passing the technical phone interview, I was invited for a set of onsite interviews:

• First, I spent 45 minutes with a developer having a conversation about the choices I made for the solution I submitted for the technical assignment, and I was also asked to implement a new requirement.
• Then there was a 45-minute meeting with two people managing projects (one of them would become my line manager if I joined), and I was asked a set of questions around my soft skills.
• Another 45-minute meeting with two developers followed, but I don't remember the details of what I was asked other than that the questions were technical. I was also allowed to ask questions, and I remember asking more about the process and technologies used.
• Finally, a 15-minute meeting with the CTO was scheduled, which overran to almost an hour, and I was asked a set of detailed questions around some decisions I made along my professional career and the motivation behind them. The CTO also laid out his vision for the technology side of the business, and that meeting felt more like a natural conversation between two sides trying to learn more about each other than a job interview. I'd say that it was a highlight of the whole process.

I was then promptly (within 24 hours) presented with an employment offer which maybe wasn't the highest with regard to the base salary, but it was nevertheless competitive. After giving it thorough consideration, I decided to accept another offer I had which felt better suited to my personal circumstances at the time, as I was coming out of a sabbatical after a burnout. The process seemed thorough and professional, and I'd recommend applying to that company.

What is the hardest part of software development?

How would you deal with a situation where, due to compliance reasons, you are unable to access production as a developer?