The process started out with a phone screen, and then I was brought in for an onsite interview. I received an agenda from HR before the process and I was happy I knew what the process was going to involve where they assured me it was a non-pressure interview. The interview consisted of a one hour coding challenge, 1/2 hour where I reviewed some code in a language I did know claim to know, 1/2 hour where I fixed some bugs in some backend JavaScript, a discussion about my design skills and a discussion with the CTO. For the coding challenge, I was given a document with many different requirements that weren’t really possible to finish in an hour. Unfortunately, “look over the shoulder” coding challenges seem to be common place these days and are a pressure tactic whether this is intentional or not. It was also a .NET developer position, and the interview took place on a Mac with a Magic Mouse using Visual Code. Unfamiliar machine, mouse and editor. The JavaScript debugging was also do with a developer looking over my shoulder on the same Mac with no debugger. I realized after the interview that JavaScript can be debugged using Visual Studio Code but the interview neglected to tell me that. The interview also ran from 11:00 - 3:00 without a lunch break. Overall, whether this was the intent or not, this was a pressure interview, and even if I would have been given an offer, I would have had to think long and hard about accepting a position at a company that conducts this type of interview. I know a lot of people lie about their experience and these tests really are to make sure that you can do what you say you can do. Unfortunately, do the conditions that this interview was conducted done under, I believe their assessment of me was incorrect.
