Worst company I interviewed for. 100% of the process is automated, I did 4 rounds of "interviews" and I never interacted with a human. The first step is to answer lots of questions that are provided in an email. Half of them are nonsense, at least for senior people. Like, how your high school classmates remember you. I didn't answer the ones I considered to be irrelevant, I guess that's why I was rejected. But nobody is going to review the answers until you spend several hours doing other tests. Programming exercises in a platform they provided, and a test that seems pretty nonsense too, with exercises like checking how fast you can find which of 3 numbers is more distant from the other two. I completed the programming exercises correctly and on time, and based on the report on the other useless skills tests, I performed better than most people in all 5 exercises. But that was irrelevant since they were wasting my time, as I could be rejected based on the first questions. Everything is optimized to save them time, even if that means you'll spend many hours with nonsense when you should already be rejected (for not wanting to answer ridiculous and irrelevant questions).
Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso Canonical (New York, NY) nel mese di mag 2026
Colloquio
Really long interview process - OA, Written interview, 3 technical rounds, then 3 behavioral rounds. Then a generic rejection email. The interviews were - Linux System Skills, Software Architecture, Python Pair Programming. The interviewers were really nice.
Domande di colloquio [1]
Domanda 1
For Software Architecture, expect system design questions, how you think about distributed systems, trade-offs in architecture decisions. Linux system skills - should have clear Linux knowledge: Kernel and shell - description, Foo.sh permission denied error when running (./foo.sh) what to do to fix it, How ssh works, Container and VM - difference, OpenStack
The interview process included four stages: an initial phone screen with a recruiter, a technical phone interview covering Python fundamentals and algorithms, a live pair-programming session on a real-world task, and a final interview focused on system design and team fit. Each step lasted between 45 and 60 minutes. The interviewers asked for explanations of tradeoffs and for code clarity.
Domande di colloquio [1]
Domanda 1
How would you design a scalable Python microservice to handle high request volume?
Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. La procedura ha richiesto 5 settimane. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso Canonical nel mese di ago 2025
Colloquio
I applied for a position at Canonical and the initial response was very fast and promising. Within a day, a Hiring Manager reached out, expressing positive feedback on my CV.
The first step was a demanding writing assignment: a three-page essay answering a detailed set of personal and professional questions. I dedicated about a week to completing this, and the feedback was immediate and positive—the HM was happy with the essay.
Following the essay, I was required to complete a technical Online Assessment (OA), which I successfully cleared by passing all test cases.
The next stage was the Thomas GIA Test (General Intelligence Assessment). I invested the time to complete all five sections. My results showed I performed Acceptable (average/satisfactory) in four sections and Exceptional (above average) in the Numerical Information section, indicating a strong capability for the role's requirements.
Given the positive feedback on the CV and essay, the successful clearance of the technical OA, and satisfactory cognitive assessment scores, I felt highly confident about moving forward. However, I was promptly hit with a generic rejection email, stating they had decided to proceed with other candidates.
Domande di colloquio [1]
Domanda 1
Technical interview had string based Python questions