The first step was an initial screen with Paylocity's Senior Recruiter, of whom I couldn't even begin to do justice describing not only his professionalism, but how enjoyable it was working with him. I can pretty much guarantee that Sam Rizvi is about the finest recruiter you'll ever have the pleasure to work with, and he demonstrates the culture and values that you'll see all over the Glass Door reviews for Paylocity. Some of the things I especially appreciated about Sam's style is that he has a genuine dialog with you - no canned questions. You won't feel that you're a commodity - he is truly interested in your feedback throughout the process, takes the time to help you prepare well to succeed with each step, and is extraordinarily generous giving you his time.
The next step is a code challenge, which you do on your own - Paylocity no longer uses real time white boards for the interview process, thank goodness. Instead, you'll be on camera ( recorded ) during the 90 minutes - not exactly a walk in the park trying to look in the camera, answer questions, and go through you code, but the team is extremely gracious - there was plenty of laughing and joking, so relax as best you can. I would encourage all serious candidates to treat this challenge with all the professionalism you have and to bring to bear your experience of what a live app needs to do. Keep in mind that this is a company very serious about hiring the best of the best - adequate is not good enough. Because of the backlog of applicants, it was about 10 days between when I was given the challenge and when it was due. You will meet with a team of engineers who will then perform a code review on your submitted project. They won't just review the code, but dig into your thinking about why you chose the strategies you did. After that's complete, they'll ask you miscellaneous technical questions as well. Finally, you'll have about 15 minutes to ask your own questions.
Almost immediately after the code review / team interview, the Senior Recruiter called me with the feedback he'd received from the team. This company is not mired in bureaucracy - it moves fast!
If you've survived the team review, you'll get to speak with the Director of Software Development. Again, Paylocity's culture of respect and teamwork really shines through here. This time is for you to ask your questions - you'll be on the receiving end for a few as well, but the Director makes herself available to you, and it was really an enjoyable chat for me.
Paylocity's interview process is the best I've ever seen, bar none. The code challenge is a very real world exercise, you work in your familiar coding environment, and you get to show off what floats your boat. But the best part is the people you'll meet along the way. First class people that I can't wait to work with.
