My interview process at Canonical took FIVE months before I ultimately turned them down.
tl;dr: Canonical prides itself on having a unique and thorough interview process. It's certainly both of those things, but it's probably not worth it in the end. Here are the details of my ridiculously long journey.
I completed the infamous written interview and psychometric assessment, and then had my first interviews with would-be peers about a month later. Ten days after those interviews (which went very well, I really enjoyed talking people who might be future colleagues), I met with a Talent Scientist to assess possible team fit. That was the first time salary range was discussed. I stated my salary range and it sounded like Canonical would be amenable to it.
The following week, I was given a written assessment--a "take home test", if you will. It was basically to get an idea of how I would edit and categorize theoretical test documentation, along with creating an example of how I would document a simple real-world procedure. (I was prompted to write technical instructions for making a cup of tea. Yes, really.)
After two weeks of radio silence, I was contacted again and I interviewed with the team lead three weeks after the written assessment. This was the fourth person I had interviewed with, and I still couldn't get a direct answer on exactly what position I was interviewing for. I applied for "Technical Author (multiple roles and seniority levels)", and apparently they were still trying to determine my "best fit."
Two weeks later, I met with the Staff Product Manager, who finally provided more clarity on the team they were considering me for. That interview went really well and the PM sounded very excited, but that was followed by three more weeks of no response, despite a few emails from me asking for updates.
Surprisingly, the person who was my original designated Hiring Lead--this process took so long that they apparently changed leads, but exactly when that happened wasn't very clear--reached out to me for sixth interview. Once again, the interview seemed to go well. The role I was interviewing for finally seemed defined, and Canonical seemed eager to bring me on.
And then I didn't hear anything for a full month. Nothing. After my third follow-up email in as many weeks, I assumed I was no longer in the running.
But then out of nowhere, the team lead who I had first interviewed with over two months earlier wanted to schedule a call. The email stated "I think we have a good fit here, but it could be hard to meet your salary expectations, so we'll need to look at that closely."
During that meeting--almost five months to the day after submitting my written interview--they said that the posted range for my position was about $15k below the range I had discussed with them four months prior, and it would be tough for them to go much higher. Thankfully I had received another offer the day before, and I was finally able to bring the arduous process to a merciful end.
