Censys Interview Questions
& Process

The interview experience was pretty straightforward and focused on what I could actually do. I got a take-home assignment where I had to create a full-stack, agentic AI application. The task itself was pretty clear and not too hard.

So, I had this really rough experience with Censys, it was the worst. Started with a rejection email, then a surprise interview request, which was odd but I went ahead. The whole thing took over a month. I ended up having 5 interviews with 6 people total, not what the recruiter said. There was a 4-hour coding test in the middle. In the end, they rejected me without any explanation. I asked the recruiter for some insight, but they said it's company policy to not give feedback. Honestly, it felt like a waste of time for everyone involved, and I was pretty annoyed to get no feedback after putting in over a month of effort.

A recruiter reached out to me about a few different roles. They were really nice and got me excited about the company and the jobs. They said they have a long interview process, but I never got past the second round. It seems like they do an HR screen, talk to the hiring manager, and then have more interviews, including an unpaid take-home project and maybe panel interviews. My experience was mostly negative. Recruiters would hype up the company and say I was a perfect fit, but then put me in front of hiring managers who didn't seem interested. It felt disorganized and like they weren't aligned on what they needed. For example, a recruiter submitted me for a senior role needing 8-10 years of experience when I'm entry-level. On top of being put up for roles outside my experience and talking to uninterested hiring managers, when I did interview with one, it went poorly because they were clearly distracted and doing other work. This was disappointing as I was really excited about the job. I got a rejection with vague feedback, confirming the interviewer wasn't paying attention. It feels like Censys might be disorganized and have high turnover, as multiple roles I was considered for were due to recent hires leaving. I hope this was just a weird experience and they improve their process.

I applied in late October via LinkedIn and heard back about a week later for a phone screen with Caroline. She was great - super nice and laid-back. Standard phone screen questions, so just prep and do your research. After that, I had an hour-long chat with CTO Derek. He was also really attentive, asked good questions, liked that I researched the company, and we connected well. It was a really smooth conversation, and I thought it went great. He's a big name, so definitely research him. They let me know they weren't moving forward a week later, but honestly, I still enjoyed the process. Nothing was messed up or delayed like I've seen elsewhere. They seem to have a solid product, and I recommend applying!