Initial recruiter call, then call + CoderPad assessment with the hiring manager/team lead. Those went well. I next had a combo system design and second technical interview, and this is when the process felt awkward. While the team lead was communicative on the original interview, the second technical interview had less than 20 minutes for a multiple step problem that was poorly written and communicated. The interviewers were not very interested or helpful, and it felt rushed. The system design portion was better, but everything felt too condensed without having a lot of time to actually focus on either problems effectively. It was further complicated having back-to-back assessments in one session in less than an hour and a half. Also, HR was completely invisible the entire process when I asked for clarification or feedback. I reached out multiple times but only once received a response from a senior representative. They wanted to connect with me on other platforms but never took time to answer my emails or messages. This behavior felt highly unprofessional.

Basic process was what you'd expect from most Bay Area technology companies, although my process happened to be for a remote position. 1. Recruiter chat / phone screen: I chatted briefly with a recruiter about what I might be looking for in a new role, what I had done, the usual. Just don't act like a crazy person and you'll be fine. 2. Technical phone screen: Done via video, and used something similar to Coderpad, so you'll have syntax highlighting and even Vim emulation if you want it. The interviewer asked me about my background and then proceeded to do a technical question, and expand on it a bit if you have time. The question here was pretty simple, all things considered. 3. Onsite: Set up a time to fly out to SF, and interviewed with 3 engineers and the hiring manager over lunch. One thing to note that's neat is there's a coffee bar behind reception, and it's pretty good coffee for free. First interview was focused on systems design. Lunch was mostly a time to ask about the current projects/challenges they're facing. The catering was pretty good! The second technical interview, after lunch, was focused on coding. Up to this point, the questions were pretty reasonable. Certainly harder than the phone screen, but doable. The final interview was more of a blend of both systems design and coding, and was slated to take an hour and a half, and boy did it. I think it'd be helpful to clarify a little more at the outset where you want to end up with this one, since I got focused on specific issues from time to time and it turned out that wasn't what the interview wanted to focus on. That ended up wasting some time that I probably didn't want to waste considering the scope of the question. I spoke with the recruiter briefly at the end, where they'll likely ask about compensation expectations. Make sure to have a number in mind before you walk in, even if you aren't planning on disclosing it. I was given an offer about 4 days after the on-site, which I ended up declining in favor of another offer with a better compensation package. I thought the culture was generally good, and I enjoyed speaking with folks there. The whole process took around a month, but that could be compressed if you're trying to move quickly. I was in the process of coordinating with several companies, which ended up making it take a little longer than it would have normally.