I applied online. I interviewed at BLP Digital (Zurich)
Interview
The interview process: 1st call with an engineer for screening. Then info from their website: next 2 interviews for system/coding knowledge, last interview presentation and to meet the team. I went through the first interview. The interviewer gave the following impression of what they are looking for: "we want to be the next amazon, netflix with value of several billions" (company that hooks invoices with existing ERP systems, some people outside purchase wouldn't even know the word ERP), "we are looking for passionate developers, not someone who is cruising from 9 to 5, who have fire to push thing through and make things done" (fire for ERP?), then i asked the questions about their actual work for developers, the answers: "we are in contact with 300 different customers, who request to hook up incoming invoices/etc. with ERP systems for integrity checks and make decisions whether extend our core product or make custom development", "we have different remote software engineers from germany, uk, czech republic, etc.", and for sure their workforce is graduated a few years ago from uni. So to translate: "we are an IT shop with cheap remote workforce that makes integrations of our developed ERP layer for customers, but of course in the same league with FAANG" classics
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe your dream job? Describe in a few words you recent project? What made you apply for the job? why you applied? all standard questions, the focus is to demonstrate your fire
One interview with their HR department.
It was extremely unpleasant. They AI-transcribe the meeting without asking permission. If you question or refuse transcription, you will be most likely already flagged.
They asked personal questions and challenged personal choices, making the atmosphere extremely heavy.
It was as if the meeting outcome was already decided before start. The tone was cold and felt like speaking to you from above.
They did not show any selling points of their company, and failed to convey any sort of motivation. They mostly spoke of their company after my questions. They conveyed as if compensation was the only selling point that matters in joining their company, although their compensation was not exceptional nor above market average.
If their HR department is such, I wonder about their work environment.
Surprisingly I was warned beforehand by people who know them well that their interview will be unpleasant, but I did not expect to that extent.