Chainalysis Interview Questions
& Process

HR reached out, and I had an interview with them. Then, I went through an online technical interview where I was asked easy to medium LeetCode questions. After that, I had a 1.5-hour in-person interview in Tel-Aviv with the engineering team lead, which involved a deep dive into my projects and an interview with the hiring manager. This part felt pretty good. Later, I had a scheduled 1-hour online System Design interview, but it got postponed 15 minutes before it was supposed to start, pushed back by almost 10 days. Then, on the same day it was rescheduled, it got postponed again, and I still have no idea when it will happen. About 2-3 weeks after that (a month since the last interview), I got a rejection email citing three reasons why I wasn't a good fit. It felt really unrealistic and unprofessional; they could have rejected me in the first week or two without scheduling a System Design interview. Rejecting me based on experience-related issues after scheduling another interview felt very misleading.

First, I had a quick call with a recruiter to go over the job, who I'd be working with, and pay. They also asked me about my past work and why I wanted this job. Then, I chatted with the hiring manager about my experience, how I solve problems, and some tricky situations like dealing with disagreements, rush jobs, or too many tasks. It felt like a real talk, not an interrogation. After that, I met with a few people from the team on their own. Each one looked at different things, like my skills, how I work with others, and if I'd fit in. I got to ask them questions too, which was great. Lastly, I did a written task. It was straightforward, and I had enough time. They asked good questions about it afterward and seemed really curious about how I thought.

The interview process kicked off with a recruiter introduction, then moved on to discussing company culture, work assignments, and finally, an interview with the hiring manager. Standard procedure, really. I took this advice to heart: 1. Dress and groom professionally for video calls, business casual is perfectly acceptable. 2. Ensure your video background is neat or use a virtual one. 3. Maintain eye contact with the camera lens, not the person on the screen. 4. Adapt your demeanor to match theirs; if they're formal, be formal, and if they're casual, you can relax a bit while still remaining professional.

This interview was kind of a joke. Initially, my profile and experience in crypto/blockchain seemed to align well with the job description. Sonny Yuen then proceeded to challenge me, acknowledging my strong experience and seniority, but tasked me with choosing between managing people or an individual contributor (IC) role, framing it as a binary choice. He then assumed I should be an IC, leading me to state I would be in the trenches if that's what they wanted. It was awkward. Simply referencing the JD and stating I was applying for the described role or that all PMs are ICs wasn't sufficient. It also felt like he was implying they needed someone younger because the hiring manager is younger and perhaps lacked the experience to articulate it differently. I considered calling him out but knew it wouldn't end well. He then went through the JD, which clearly states the need for experience, vision, and product ownership to manage 2-3 products, contradicting what he was telling me about the role's requirements. This felt hypocritical and lacked self-awareness. He also gave a lengthy pitch about Chaninalysis, claiming their niche is perfect, they're dominating with no competition, and how great they are. At times, it sounded like an Account Executive giving a simplified explanation to someone unfamiliar with Web3, like his grandma or a potential candidate from Google/Facebook. I wanted to interrupt since I had already done the research and knew about the company, but I felt I had to defend myself too much and was just trying to salvage the interview. He was a pompous a--hole. By the end of this call, I knew there wouldn't be a second round. Usually, there's some hope, but this was definitely not one of those times. A total waste of time and not objective.