I moved quickly once a recruiter contacted me. We scheduled a phone call for the next day, and the conversation felt efficient. We discussed why I wanted to join, what I considered my biggest mistake in my current role, my compensation expectations, and other fit questions. After that, I had a technical screen with a senior engineer focused on concurrency and multithreading. It was the kind of coding challenge where the interviewer wanted both correctness and clear reasoning.
Soon afterward, I reached a more hands-on evaluation. It tested how well I could follow a detailed setup under time pressure. The CoderPad-style task began with many instructions to absorb. I then had to install packages, start a server, interact with an API through request and response patterns, and find and fix a bug. The scenario itself sounded standard, but the instructions felt unnecessarily long for a timed session. I also felt that asking for clarification, especially when the answer seemed to be hidden in the document, worked against me.
The process had two different feels. The early recruiter and senior engineer stages were supportive and somewhat guided, while the coding execution stage was sharper and more rigid. I didn’t make it through to an offer. For me, coding ability wasn’t enough. I also had to get through a long setup and keep a collaborative tone under pressure.
Location: Bellevue, WA. Overall feedback: Positive. Offer status: No offer.
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