I met some Rioters at a League of Legends event and asked them about their information security practices, the people onsite explained what they could and introduced me to some of the security people at Riot. About 6 months later I was looking at job opportunities and reached out to the security people at Riot. They asked me a few preliminary questions about what kind of position I was looking for and some more details about my background. After that they asked for a resume. Then I didn't hear anything for a month and during that time I started talking to other companies about opportunities (and kind of forgot that I sent my resume in at all). Later I learnt that the companies HR department had been recreated just as I sent in my email and my email also coincided with an entire company summer vacation. Once I had heard back from Riot I was asked to send my resume in via the online submission system. Two or three days later I heard from a recruiter. I told her that I was in a hurry because I had an offer from another company and I didn't want to keep them waiting. The recruiter said that their process can take several weeks but she can see what she can do to speed it up. I was scheduled for a phone interview for a few days later but the call never came. About 45 minutes after the scheduled time I sent a query and received an apologetic email as well as a call from my contact at Riot and the person who was supposed to interview me apologizing and explaining that something had come up. The call was rescheduled for the next morning, a Friday via skype video chat, everything went well. The questions were mostly scenario based and autobiographical, I got along well with the interviewer and we chatted for longer than the 45 minutes that was originally scheduled. The recruiter called me about 2 hours later and asked if I could do another phone interview that afternoon. That interview was along the same lines (the scenarios were from a different security sub-discipline) and went equally well. On the Monday I was invited to come to Los Angeles for an onsite interview the following Tuesday. The onsite was long and gruelling but lots of fun. Running from 10am - 6:30pm with a casual lunch interview, an afternoon break, and a 30 minute session where I was asked to teach some Rioters something (not necessarily about anything job related). The interviewers ranged from people on the same team as the job I was applying for, to the hiring manager, two VPs, and senior staff from unrelated departments. The interviews were a mix of one on one meetings and group interviews. The questions largely covered my background and 'what if' scenario questions. I don't think I used a whiteboard to answer any of the questions. When I mentioned my competing offer to the hiring manager he asked for some compensation details from the offer and my current job, some people might be put out by this direct approach but I found it refreshing. Everyone I met was a lot of fun to talk to, very smart, and happy to answer all my (sometimes rather direct) questions. After the interview I went out to dinner organized by the guys I knew at Riot and then caught the red-eye back home. Two days later I received a call from the hiring manager saying that he wants to make me an offer and he'll have details to me as quick as he can and suggested that knowing my current circumstances that I should find the offer attractive. He suggested that it might take 4 business days to get back to me. The next day the recruiter asked for some references that she could call. It ended up around 6 business days for the details to emerge and by this time I was feeling like a cad for stalling my other offer this long but I understand that these things take time. The details when they did emerge included good benefits, a standard salary (same as my other offer and similar to my previous job), and a generous equity package. The offer was better than my other offer (or at least that's how I saw it), and I felt that I could easily fit in at Riot.