Ashby Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview started with a 30-minute chat with a recruiter, who was really nice and helpful. Then, there was a 25-minute meeting with the Engineering Manager. It felt a bit rushed, and honestly, making it so short didn't seem to make sense given how much needed to be discussed. The next part was a pair coding session, focusing on both backend and frontend. They wanted us to modify their existing repository, which involved React, GraphQL, TypeScript, and Node.js, plus SQS, so definitely for seniors in these areas. A cool thing was that at each stage, we got an email with a lot of reading material and the exact questions we'd be asked. They really stuck to those questions, just adding a few follow-ups, which I found super helpful and good for neurodivergent folks. On the downside, the interviewers seemed pressed for time, skipping intros to get straight to the questions. The coding part was a lot for someone neurodivergent, juggling multiple tabs and having to verbalize every thought. It didn't feel like a real-world scenario; usually, incident response is longer, not full-stack, and not pair programming with unfamiliar tech. To top it off, the interviewer cut the coding session short after 38 minutes, saying there wasn't enough time to finish. While I understand not everyone meets the bar, as an interviewer myself, we typically let it play out and end professionally, leaving room for future opportunities. This experience gave a negative impression, like their time was too valuable for a proper closing. It’s a red flag, especially for a remote-first, single IC company, to use pair programming as a filter. In today's AI age, struggling with unfamiliar syntax without help is inefficient.

i had an interview with the recruiter. they were helpful in informing me about the role and expectations. they asked about why i wanted to work for this company and i fumbled a bit here. i should read the job description clearly.

I was interviewing for another role and made it to the final stages. The hiring manager for that role was great, giving me feedback and being transparent. They chose someone else, but the VP of Marketing connected me with the co-founder for a Design Engineer role. I hadn't applied, but I was open to it. The call was delayed and happened after their team offsite. The co-founder seemed to have forgotten why we were talking and was negative. He scolded me for applying to two roles, even though I only applied to one. He was aware of my work from the previous role's Figma review and take-home. The job listed a salary range of $170K-$260K, but he said they could only offer around $90K and wanted a four-week working trial because he thought I was too junior. It seems odd, given they are an ATS, that they wouldn't interview people who applied or use the time better than meeting someone they don't think is qualified.