The stages I was went through:
- 30 min Talent partner call
- 45min call with Tech Lead
- Take home tech test
The first call with the talent partner invovled just simple questions about motivtions for leaving, eligibility to work etc. Nothing unusual, but I felt that the talent partner could've have shown more interest in getting to know me as a person. It felt very much like a tick-box Q&A session.
The second stage, which was a call with one of the Tech Leads was more engaging and better part of the process. The interview was like a casual conversation that contained varied technical and personal questions. It wasn't intimidating as some of them can be and the interviewer was very nice and friendly.
The technical stage was where I was rejected, to my huge disappointment. I felt really positive about the take home task, which from my past experiences I usually don't enjoy. This one was different: the test instruction was a straightforward assignment to build a web shop page according the some specifications and provided API. They even provived me information about common mistakes to avoid which I felt that was very good.
I completed the task, added a Readme with detailed descriptions on how to run the app, included unit tests and most importantly had a working solution. My tech choices also included considerations for type checking, performance and accessibility. They didn't explicitly ask for that, but I felt it would be seen as a bonus to my submission. I was pretty confident that I had delivered.
What made me more disappointed with the rejection was the fact that it came after week of chasing for updates on my application. To make things worse, no feedback or specific reasons where provided initially. I had to chase yet again several times for the recruiter to get feedback on my tech task. I did eventually get 3 short bullet points weeks after, which I felt were vague and probably not specific to the work I had done.
In summary, the process started fairly well but the lack of feedback or appreciation for time spent by candidates really soured my opinion about it sadly.