BoomTown (South Carolina) Interview Questions
& Process

So, I had this interview with a startup that's growing super fast. It was broken down into three parts: first, a quick chat over the phone, then a coding test, and finally, some interviews with the actual team. The recruiter kicked things off, just asking about my past work, what I've done, and why I want to join them. It was pretty chill, and I got to talk about my career path. After that, came the technical part where I had to do a coding challenge within a time limit. It was about using algorithms and data structures to solve a problem, and I had to show how I think and code. I used Python since that's my go-to. It was hard, but I got a working solution. The last bit was meeting different people from the team, including engineers and the hiring manager. They threw in some technical stuff like system design and debugging problems, and also behavioral questions to see how I work with others and tackle issues. I liked being able to chat about my old projects and my problem-solving methods. All in all, it was a solid process, not too crazy, and it gave me a real feel for the company and what they're looking for.

I talked to over 10 people at this company, did an assignment, and submitted references. Then, after a 2.5 month process, they ghosted me. I was really disappointed by the poor communication and how disorganized the interview process was. On the bright side, the people I met were great - really nice and clearly competent, I bet they make good coworkers/managers. But, the process took way too long and follow-ups were often delayed. It demanded a lot of time from applicants, and they didn't seem to respect that.

So I applied through LinkedIn and a recruiter hit me up about a phone interview which was about a week out. I was like 'phone interview' and they got back to me in like 24 hours and we set up another one. They were both pretty similar, basically asking about my experience, projects I'd done, and weaknesses. After the second phone interview, they emailed me in a few days to set up an onsite and culture interview at their Charleston spot. The whole thing was pretty quick, maybe just under 2 weeks? I didn't get the job, which was a bummer, but it's hard to be mad. This whole interview was super unique and made me feel good about myself. BoomTown is doing something right, you know? It makes you want to try harder to get a job there, and I definitely do.

I got an email to set up an initial phone screen with a recruiter. This recruiter didn't seem to know much about the job, barely looked at my resume, and didn't read the job description online. She often asked me about my experience but didn't seem to understand my answers, even when I explained how they fit the role. When I asked about parts of the job description that seemed contradictory to what she was saying, she acted confused and implied I didn't get the position. I even tried to help her understand how new projects start in the software industry, but she didn't seem to grasp that project ideas have to come from somewhere. My attempts to talk about past projects and my professional growth were met with disinterest. The interview was tough not because of hard questions, but because it was impossible to have a real conversation. I later got a standard rejection email. It's possible the job wasn't a fit, or maybe they just hired randomly because the recruiter seemed completely unprepared and didn't know about the company or what makes a good project manager. While I've had bad interviews before, this lack of basic professionalism was disgusting. I used to like Boomtown, but not anymore. If they're hiring good people, it's just luck.