Went through a month long interview process without ever speaking to anyone on the team except for recruiters. Before a phone screen I had to complete an assignment about 2 mobile games that I have played. Had a 30-45min phone screen with a recruiter who then gave me an assignment about mobile games and how I would approach the problem of buying a gas, hybrid, or electric car. Submitted assignment and was rejected but was emailed a couple days later to do the assignment again. Recruiter I was talking to left in the middle of all of this and I had to follow up with a new recruiter to continue the process. Spent several more days on the assignment only to be rejected by a generic email again. This process was confusing and time consuming with no opportunity to even talk to the actual product team. It felt like my time was not valued and I asked for feedback but have not heard back yet.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Have you played Episode or War Dragons? What are your career aspirations? Why Pocket Gems?
Thank you for your feedback and for all the time you spent with us interviewing!
We apologize for the confusion and we are working hard to ensure a seamless process for all candidates moving forward. Should you consider applying to us again, we hope this will be reflected in your experience. We appreciate your review and wish you all the best in the future.
Negative experience
Average interview
Application
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Pocket Gems (San Francisco, CA) in Sept 2021
Interview
Application:
I applied online and the process took 2 weeks in September 2021
Interview:
As other reviews go, I was also given a take-home assignment a week after I applied for the position. What stood out to me was that there was no initial screening where I could discuss my background/interests and learn more about the company. However, I still moved ahead with the assignment which was supposed to take 2-4 hours. It took me more than 7-8 hours to do this assignment which was both fun and challenging. Everything was smooth until this point. The recruiter was active in communicating any deadlines and was responsive if an extension was needed. However, after submitting the assignment, the recruiter stopped replying to my emails. After a week, I got the standard rejection email without any feedback. I emailed them back asking for feedback because I feel that's the least any applicant deserves after investing hours in doing their assignment. I would recommend them to mention about the take-home assignment early in the interview process so that the applicants are prepared to go through this not-so-informational process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Data analysis for the take home and questions on the kind of games you like and what changes would you recommend to them
Thank you for providing feedback on your experience. We really do appreciate the time and effort you invested in the take home assessment. Unfortunately we are unable to provide specific feedback for each test but can share that our team considers several factors when reviewing homework. Wishing you all the best!
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Pocket Gems (San Francisco, CA) in Aug 2021
Interview
First of all, without any HR screening call, they threw me a homework. Yep, one of the worst HR behavior. How can you ask someone to contribute without communicating expectations, match, salary, and many other important things?
But I did it anyway. The homework is a game design + data analytics assignment. It says it should take around 2-3 hours (can't remember exact number), but it actually took me >10 hours. Some knowledge on Python/R is required to do well on the homework.
I passed homework and enter the HM interview. That guy was a PM for War Dragon, and he's so indifferent. No greetings. He was emotionlessly reading the questions from a paper. He did not give any feedback on your answer, and when you ask questions like "which direction do you want me to go further", he didn't really answer them, and he just hurried into next questions. The interview was boring to death.
I failed at HM round, but on my side, I also vetoed this company. I can't feel this company's passion or respect on talents. Their HR was super slow too. And to be honest, I just don't get what's fun about their games. Good luck on their talent hunting.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Game design questions asking your favorite games and how would you improve them (homework).
Data analytics questions on what insight you can conclude from their dataset (homework).
Probability questions asking you to choose a best solution based on given data (interview).
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and perspective with us. We value candidate feedback to help us be aware and continue to make improvements to our process. Wishing you all the best.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Pocket Gems in Aug 2021
Interview
Contacted via e-mail about the role. The recruiters are very quick to respond and will reply with a lot of detail about the process. There was no initial phone screening and only a take-home assignment with a 1-week deadline.
Next round was a 1:1 interview with a PM that gave a brainteaser about how to win a slot machine tournament. At the end of the interview, I knew I didn't give the PM the answer I wanted and was promptly given a rejection the next day.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
(Take-Home Assignment) Explain some UX/UI changes you would make to your favorite game.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We are sorry it was not the outcome you were hoping for, but we do appreciate you taking the time out to speak with us. Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors.