The candidacy process was very positive! The first phase consisted of a quick 30-minute chat with Backbase's talent acquisition specialist. The call was more of a high level introduction of myself, where I briefly discussed my work experience and learned a bit about the company. The conversation was very laid back and friendly. Shortly after the call, I received an email regarding a coding assessment. The email provided instructions to build an application using a selection of technologies/frameworks (Java, Spring Framework, Tomcat, Maven, Camel, and a few others). The instructions were very relaxed, meaning that I could use a complementary technology, or framework in place of one that was listed (Spring Integration over Apache Camel, or Gradle over Maven, for example). There was also a list of optional features that I could implement for bonus points. I had three days to complete it. This coding exercise was very enjoyable, because it focused on a real-world scenario, and allowed my to freely express my style of coding and my way of problem-solving. I was very happy that it wasn't one of those traditional assessments where you get asked questions like "What is Inheritance?" or "Here's 5 lines of code. Will the program compile? If not, why?" It took about a week to get feedback on the assessment due to the team getting busy with finishing up a sprint and prepping for a release. I eventually got word back that my coding assessment went well and was asked to come into the office for an in-persion interview. First, I met with the VP of Professional Services and the Solution Architect. We discussed my background as well as the results of my coding assessment. The conversation was very casual and I felt very much at home. We got a little technical and even did a little bit of white boarding, but nothing super intense. Very light and easy. I later met with two more individuals from the front-end side. Our conversation was more about the culture of the company, thinks they like, things that they think could be improved, etc. It was very "off-the-books" and transparent. I had such a great time that it didn't feel like I was there for 3 hours! After the team had some internal discussion, the recruiter got back to me with some positive feedback and sent over a personality test that I needed to take. The test was more of a way for them to understand my work/leadership style so that they would know how to best guide/coach me with career development, etc. It took about 15 minutes to complete from my iPhone. I received one more request to come to the office to meet the VP of Pre-sales, who was in town from Amsterdam. We spoke for about 30 minutes and got to know each other pretty well. A few days later, I recieved a verbal offer over the phone. There were still some finalizing discussions going on behind the scenes, so it took a few more days to get the formal offer sent over for me to sign. I enjoyed the process very much!