Several stages of interviews occurred, and although the process was fairly long I enjoyed chatting with so many members of the team. I felt like I was able to get a good idea of the sort of people I'd work with.
I applied online and got a request to fill out a technical screening questionnaire within a few days. The questionnaire was kind of long, but not too complicated. I think it took maybe 2 or 3 hours total to answer everything and then go back and proofread to make sure there weren't any silly mistakes. The questions were a mix of git questions and example responses to customers or how you'd try to troubleshoot things.
Screening take home completed, the first time I actually spoke to someone was a typical recruiter screening call. Like all the interviews that came after it this took place over a Zoom call. Zoom is pretty solid and easy to set up and figure out, I didn't have any trouble even though I'd never used it before. This first screening was fairly short, around 30 minutes. The questions were the usual range of why you applied, what sort of role you'd like, why you're looking, etc. The recruiter I spoke with was very friendly and the call felt reasonably casual and comfortable. The same recruiter stayed with me through the whole process and answered questions as I had them.
Next came a technical interview. This was with a member of the actual team I'd be joining, and it lasted around 90 minutes. Since I was interviewing for a support engineer role the technical interview involved me connecting to a GitLab installation using SSH and then live debugging some things. None of the problems were super difficult and the parts I had trouble with (due to lack of knowledge of specific Ruby / Rails things) the interviewer was able to give me a hint or two so that I could find the correct documentation. I never felt rushed, and I genuinely enjoyed this interview. I learned something, and it was a boatload of fun to dig into actual problems and get a feel for the role!
Then there was a behavioral interview. This was with the manager of the team and another team member. It was similar to the recruiter screening call, but a little more in depth. It took around an hour. Lots of good back and forth conversation and questions about the role and my background, but nothing too surprising or out there. It was a lot like other behavioral interviews I've had. We also went over my responses to the technical interview questions and my thought process, feedback, etc. I didn't expect this part but it was really neat, and I enjoyed getting clarification on some things I missed as well as a chance to show my work and talk through things.
The last actual interview was with the department director. This felt fairly casual and relaxed, more of a getting to know you kind of thing. I felt like I had a good idea of what to expect working for GitLab at this point so I didn't have as many questions for the director as I had in previous interviews, but I still enjoyed the conversation.
After all that interviewing it was about 6 weeks from the date I had applied. That included the Christmas / New Year / Winter Holidays time period so it was longer than normal as there were people on vacation. The only remaining part was background checks (run through a third party service who required more info from me so it took some time to complete), and reference checks. Once that was done an offer was agreed upon and signed. The whole process was basically exactly what's listed in the handbook, and the recruiter gave me a summary of everything before I got into the interviewing which was very helpful. I felt like there weren't any surprises and I had enough time to prepare before each interview.
