Ashby Software Engineer interviews, decoded.

I thought the interview process was pretty good overall. They gave me a lot of info so I knew what to expect. Everyone was nice and I enjoyed it. I got rejected at the technical assessment stage. They act like a pair programmer and code based on your instructions. My biggest tip is: DON'T try to understand the codebase, they want you to implement; focus on execution, not understanding. Go bottom-up and don't go too deep into the component chain. I tried to understand the code holistically, but that wasn't what they were looking for.

Recruiter chat first, then a screen with 2 HMs where we talked about a project I built and its tradeoffs. Next up was the TPS, which was crazy - asked to add a feature to their messy codebase on screen share. With only 20 mins left, the interviewer, one of the HMs from before, cut me off saying we wouldn't finish. Got rejected right then. Do they really expect engineers to code like this?

So, after I applied, I got this email saying I didn't really fit the bill for some reason, or maybe all of them. It's kinda weird because I've got like 8-10 years at past places, led a bunch of successful projects, and have been doing this for ages, not in consulting. Makes me think some automated system just scanned my resume. I've been a SWE, DevOps, DevEx, even did some UI Design, but apparently that's not cutting it? With over 25 years as a SWE, a resume showing all that would be super long. That's totally not what other US companies want, you know? If they expect short resumes, they should just say so in the job post.