Second chance? Not this time 🙂 About a year ago, I applied to Global Relay for a Senior Java Developer role. The screening call with the recruiter was excellent - clear, professional, and left me genuinely excited. Then came the technical interview… which, let’s say, didn’t quite go as planned: The interviewer didn’t turn on the camera (I did), which immediately made it feel like a one-sided conversation. The audio quality was poor, and due to a strong accent, I struggled to catch parts of the conversation. I was interrupted mid-answer several times, as the interviewer seemed more focused on a checklist than on truly understanding my approach. The final verdict? “CRUD developer.” That was unexpected - especially after 12+ years of experience with Java, leading backend teams, designing scalable systems, and optimizing cloud infrastructure. This includes projects at Airbnb and Pinterest, where I worked on large-scale architecture and helped reduce infrastructure costs by millions annually. Some time later, I learned that the manager who interviewed me was no longer with the company. Recently, a friend encouraged me to apply again. The new hiring manager seemed genuinely enthusiastic - strong tech match, relevant experience, and great initial feedback. But then… the old interview report resurfaced. And based on that alone, my application was rejected - no second conversation, no fresh look. For context - even Google re-invites candidates for another interview after a year. Maybe that openness to fresh perspectives is part of what makes Google… Google. And to make things more ironic - just in the past month, I was contacted by three different agency recruiters about roles at Global Relay. Apparently, the market still sees a strong fit. Lesson learned: Sometimes, your first tag in the ATS sticks around longer than it should. Live and learn — and on to the next opportunity 🙂

Applied via a recruiter, the process started with a initial phone screen for about 30 minutes. During the phone screen, they asked questions are data structures and Java threading. Followed the phone screen, I was ask to complete a technical assignment. I was given 24 hours to complete the coding, and I took me around 8 hours to complete it. I was then invited to go to an on site interview. During the interview, I was ask to white broad the design of my technical assignment, and discuss the pros and cons of design decisions. I was again invited to go back for another interview to meet with another team. While I was there, I was told that the original position was filled, so they wanted to interview me for another position. After meeting with the team, it was followed by an hr interview. After that, I was told by the recruiter that they chose someone else with more experience.