I applied online. I interviewed at Zendesk (Dublin, Dublin) in July 2017
Interview
I applied online after reading great reviews here and was told that we would move forward with the interviews. Had a coding interview with one of the senior engineers which went well. The feedback was that I did so well in the coding that my skills would be under-utilised in an Engineering Manager role. The recruiter asked if I'd consider a Principle Engineer role, and I kindly said no. Then the recruiter stopped responding to me. I personally reached out to another recruiter and was told the Engineering Manager role in fact requires more number of years of experience. So here are my questions:
(1) If the role required more number of years of experience than what I had, then why did we even start the interview series and waste my time?
(2) Is doing unexpectedly well in coding interview a show-stopper for being an Engineering Manager at Zendesk?
This is a very distasteful recruitment experience and the fact that people who work in this manner could make it to Zendesk is a huge red flag to me.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk (Belgrade, Central Serbia) in Jan 2024
Interview
1) Spoke with the Recruiter - Perfect
1.1) Email exchange with another recruiter - pretty smooth
2) Had an interview with the director of engineering - Also was great
3) Interview with the team - had a good time speaking with them
But at the end - nothing
Wrote a letter to a first recruiter, got autoreply that he’s no longer working in Zendesk and he also included the email of his substitute.
I reached out the substitute, never received an answer
After a week reached out to the second recruiter that I spoke with - again, no answer
Although the interview process was great, the result (I was ready for the rejection, so that’s not the case) was complete silence from their side which is shame IMO
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Discussed my experience as a lead on my current project
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk (Singapore) in Sept 2021
Interview
Lots of interviews, very nice panel overall. Very nice to talk to and they explain what they expect in the role etc.
Total of 6 interviews including the intro. And can range from 45mins to 1hr/1.5hr.
Overall good experience.
The decision making is a bit interesting. They normally go through entire set of interviews to give feedback. And if you are not a good "fit", you will be rejected at the end. Which I feel a bit disappointing, considering if you see another candidate performing well, you can probably let go of other in interest of time and effort for the applicant.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk in Sept 2017
Interview
Friendly, efficient, professional. Started with a 30 minute screen, then a technical screen. Followed up with an on site interview with four more people. Last step as a short one to one in a different date.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time when your team solved a problem