Wasted months of my time due to an internal communication error. The initial stages were the usual HR screening and then a front-end take-home test as I was applying for a more front-end-facing position. Unfortunately, after this stage, there was a 2+ month-long hiring freeze over winter so the application was paused. I was then contacted around Jan that the hiring process was being picked up again, but then heard nothing until around early Feb 2023, where the person handling my hiring was changed suddenly. I was told this was to speed up the process. The final stage was a 2 part technical. The first was a memory management technical interview which I felt went well. The interviewer was very helpful in explaining and walking me through any parts I stumbled on, and we came up to a suitable solution. The second part, which was a system design task was where it went downhill. I was tasked with designing an in-house chat app which was simple enough but was odd as every functional feature I asked about whether to be included to not was pushed back. Questions weren't answered clearly and the interviewer kept going back to one specific part of the system which I said I was getting back to once the overall architecture was laid out. He seemed very unbothered about the overall system and hyper-focused on a weird part of the design. Overall I thought my design was satisfactory as the first interviewer had nothing but positives to say during the review, saying how I thought of wider requirements that most applicants don't think about. A week later, I got a call saying I was rejected for the role as my 'system design skills weren't as up to scratch as expected'. Under normal circumstances id accept this feedback as I'm open to constructive criticism, however, the issue was that during the entire process, it was stated to me that due to my previous experience and the fact I was applying for a front-end role, there was very little to no expectation on my system design skills and is something they'd happily teach me on the job. So having received the feedback that this is why I was rejected was surprising and felt like a complete waste of time as I had made it clear that this would be a weak spot when assessed. What made it worse is I know someone working at the company and they dug into the issue for me and they were told that the interviewer handling the system design portion of the interview 'wasn't aware I was only applying for a front-end role' so was assessing me as if I was applying for more of a full-stack to backend dev role, but as the rejection had already been handed, the decision couldn't be turned.

1. Call with internal Talent Acquisition around role and responsibilities 2. Pair programming interview with Senior Developers: Building a basic API 3. Technical follow-up and product awareness interview: including some systems design and memory-management knowledge questions 4. Culture interview with Hiring Manager: Culture fit and values etc. All stages were extremely well-organised and run. Questions were fair and appropriate for the level of the job. Communication from the TA was really friendly and clear throughout - couldn't have asked for more! Overall, the process was not unduly difficult, but was certainly challenging and thought-provoking. Passfort are clearly defending their culture to filter for only the right sort of people who will bring value and a good attitude, and this was reflected at all stages. Feedback throughout was extremely fair, helpful and well-communicated.