Altana AI Software Engineer interviews, decoded.

The interview process felt a bit chaotic and demanding. I ended up having two interviews scheduled on the same day with barely any heads-up. Each of those involved two interviewers, so that was four people total in one day. The recruiter initially said they'd call me back with feedback and to set up the next steps, but that never happened. Instead, I just got an interview invite out of the blue. The recruiter wasn't really on top of setting things up or keeping me in the loop. This whole lack of communication, the late notice, and the tough back-to-back interviews with so many interviewers made it hard to get ready and gave me a bad feeling about how they hire people.

First, a recruiter called to talk about the job and role. Then, I met with the hiring manager for about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, there was a virtual face-to-face meeting that included a technical deep dive and system design. Finally, I had a team culture meeting.

The interview process began with a phone screen where I learned about the role and team, making me really excited about the company's goals. However, the take-home project was excessively demanding and time-consuming. For candidates interviewing elsewhere or with other offers, it's an easy pass. My advice to engineering leadership: this take-home assignment is not suitable for experienced hires. Consider alternatives like HackerRank, live coding, or whiteboard sessions for screening.