My interview experience with Definely was unfortunately one of the most unprofessional I’ve had, specifically from an administrative and organisational perspective.
I was approached directly for the role, which made the initial process feel promising. The first two stages moved quickly and involved meeting Francesca and an engineer to discuss my background, career goals, and Definely as a company. Both conversations went very well, and there was clear mutual enthusiasm. I was told there was strong potential and alignment between us.
I then went through two technical stages: one shorter technical discussion and one live coding interview with more theory-based questions. I left both feeling very positive and was explicitly told that my performance was strong, that I demonstrated good technical knowledge, and that I would be a very good fit. I was also told to expect an update on next steps within a week.
After that, communication completely broke down. I was ghosted for two weeks before following up, at which point I was told that the team was on holiday and I should hear back in another two weeks. After waiting again, there was still no response. After about a month, I was told that the holiday period had delayed feedback but that I should expect an update soon.
Eventually, I received a rejection stating that while I demonstrated strong technical competence, my experience was supposedly too focused on greenfield projects and independent work in small teams, and that they were instead looking for someone with experience working in large teams on existing codebases.
This feedback was frustrating for two reasons. First, if there truly was an experience mismatch, that should have been identified at the initial discovery stage rather than after multiple technical interviews. Second, and more importantly, the feedback itself was inaccurate. My background is primarily working on established products within medium to large teams, with very limited greenfield experience. The stated reason for rejection did not reflect my actual profile or experience.
I reached out to Francesca to clarify, as it seemed there had been a genuine misunderstanding, but I received no response.
Overall, while the interviewers themselves were pleasant and the technical discussions were positive, the lack of communication, long periods of silence, and ultimately inaccurate feedback made the experience extremely disappointing and unprofessional.