The interview process was in 3 parts.
First, the phone screening.
Second, the programming test done via Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Third (and the final), the cultural interview with a Software Eng. Manager and THEIR manager via Zoom or MS Teams.
Phone screening went just fine, first 5 minutes the interviewer went over the company but oddly emphasized the "benefits" that the company offers you if you get hired.
Another interesting thing of note was that the interviewer mentioned atleast twice during the interview that they are a "fast-growing company who keeps needing to bring on more people because they're just growing so fast", at first I didn't think much of it but then after doing a bit of research on the company before the interview itself, a good majority of them kept mentioning high turnover.
The Programming interview involved just solving a few basic problems that you should be able to solve just fine if you've actually been coding in whatever language you're interviewing for.
It consisted of four problems with the final one involving recursion (this took the longest, out of the hour allotted to me this took atleast 10-20mins to solve)
The final interview was a cultural interview with a Software Eng Manager and THEIR manager/boss.
I won't have space to put everything, but here's a few red flags I picked up on during it.
- They state they are a company that rakes in "millions of dollars in revenue" a day and have their own entirely in-house API/library but when I asked if they have any documentation with said API (you know, for reference so anyone utilizing it doesn't have to go digging through AND across a multitude of classes/class members to find something they need), I was replied with.
"Oh we just look through it and can find out on our own"
Yeah, so for a company that pulls in so much "money" you can't even be bothered to not even provide auto- generated documentation for your "custom-built" API.
It must be so good you don't even need to explain it huh?
Another red flag was when yet again, they mention that "they're hiring so many people so fast because they're growing so fast".
Another red flag was when I mentioned if they utilize any plugins for development work (you know, to speed up or help smooth your workflow when working with large and/or sizable codebases)
"Oh we don't use those because they aren't good and I'd never use them personally, we just do it vanilla"
Alright, so you willingly acknowledge that your company doesn't make use of any plugins because it's content with lost productivity (like Visual Assist or even ReSharper, for Intellisense related operations that can often chug on such large codebases).
Alright, so you just admitted you don't bother using ANY sort of plugin that can make devs have less frustrating moments when it comes to juggling sizable codebases that spans multiple boundaries. (hello webdev)
The third and final red flag was the overall benefits/compensation offered for the position.
After doing some more research on other companies in my area and looking at salaries amongst other things, it turns out that Webstaurant was the lowest paying employer in the area with the least amount of benefits.
Hmmm, so you have an interview process typical for a FAANG company (hint hint, Webstaurant is definitely NOT a FAANG) and throughout each interview you they try to make it seem as if they're such a "fast-growing" company with a "quasi startup-FAANG" feel.
If you have even the most slightly gilded credentials in your field, I'd take them elsewhere to another company that'll actually provide proper compensation and benefits that matches the interview process they put you through.