I was contacted directly to interview, and then prompted to answer "What drew me to Solace?". Fine, but then the HR lady kept calling me by my surname - I corrected once, but you don't want to seem too touchy this early on. She implied that the screening is very rigorous and I am lucky to get this far (literally the first chat). I don't know her, so I'll assume its just the way the company wants to present themselves. I cleared the technical round, and then spoke to the VP Eng. Hard pass for me after that. Tech stack is a bit bad, but serviceable. Culture comes across as squeezing the most out of workers as possible. I don't care if someone works 60+ hours a week - they probably have founder level equity, or its their first job. This place isn't "The next ____".

They reached out to me, so if you're an engineer and you've never applied to this company, I'd recommend passing on their interview process. I have a feeling they reach out to candidates so they meet a quota when they already have someone in mind. Overall, one of the worst interview experiences I've had. This company will waste your time. I spoke with a technical recruiter, then completed a coding challenge. Then I received a standard, bottle rejection. When I asked for feedback, I was given a very vague response. If you expect your candidates to spend a chunk of time on the technical challenge, the least you can do is provide decent feedback. As an engineer who has passed technicals for much more well companies than Solace, it makes me think their hiring process/the company itself is shady.