Coalition Frontend Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Applied online and got a response the next day. The process was pretty standard: first a recruiter interview to screen me, then a 1-hour technical interview that was very practical. After that, I had a 45-minute behavioral interview with the hiring manager. The virtual onsite included more coding, this time focused on frontend, and a systems design part where I had to build a piece of Amazon from scratch. There was also a behavioral interview and a chat with someone from the product team. Interviewing as a software engineer can be a mixed bag, but I found the process at Coalition to be straightforward and somewhat enjoyable. I struggled a bit with the systems design part, but since I did well in the technical sections and connected with the hiring manager, they made a good offer. Overall, despite my issues with systems design, the Coalition team made me feel capable and valued.

The interview process kicked off with a video screening call with the recruiter, which went great. I was really excited about the chance to work at Coalition because their company culture seemed fantastic, a big plus for me. Next up was a technical interview where I had to do a React task and talk about technical implementation, and I nailed that. The third stage involved two interviews back-to-back, each an hour long, totaling two hours. First, I met with the hiring manager for a behavioral interview, but from the start, it felt like he wasn't taking me seriously. He barely looked at me, just went through some questions formally, and jotted down notes haphazardly. He didn't even bother to explain the company or their product unless I prompted him. He cut the interview short after about 20 minutes, even though it was scheduled for an hour, and didn't give a reason. I was stunned, especially since I'd passed the initial screening and technical interview and deserved the full hour to showcase my skills. I suspect this treatment was due to my race, gender, or age, and that they only considered white males for the role. It would have been better if they'd checked my LinkedIn beforehand and just canceled. Following that, I had another technical interview with some behavioral questions and a TypeScript task – fixing a function to handle data fetching and array manipulation. This was also straightforward, but honestly, after the hiring manager's behavior, I was so upset and demotivated that I didn't even feel like proceeding, knowing I wasn't being considered anymore. As expected, they called the next day to say I didn't get the job. Even if they had offered it, I wouldn't have accepted due to the disrespectful treatment, especially as I value a workplace free from prejudice. This whole experience was incredibly unpleasant, a real letdown given the company's innovative product and potential. The next step was a background check, and then the offer stage.

First I had a chat with a recruiter, then it was off to the races with the first technical interview. They mentioned there would be a lot of rounds, possibly more than necessary. For a frontend role, it was cool that it was a frontend dev environment using React/TypeScript, just like the job. However, it didn't feel junior-level friendly. The task was to build a React app that fetched data from an API they provided within the app. It sounds easy, but you really need to know how to deal with promises and pull data from them quickly. That's where I struggled, and it ate up all my time, so I couldn't show off my other skills in React, styling, or data management. I should've brushed up on promises more (I was rusty), but definitely study them because they're important here. I was allowed to use MDN, but it felt like the interviewer decided that on the spot, so I'm not sure if it's always allowed. They said no AI (which is fair), but I couldn't use other resources like Stack Overflow or my notes, which I normally use. It didn't feel like a realistic work setting or a good test of my ability to do the job. After the technical part, they threw in some behavioral questions, but they were targeted at people with more customer experience than I have. This is another reason it felt off for juniors; someone fresh out of school likely hasn't worked with customers much, making those questions tough. There are tons of other behavioral questions that would be better for juniors, focusing on personal/team projects or internships. Even though I didn't ace it, I think the interviewer could have been a bit more friendly. I know it's their job, but a little empathy for people looking for work right now would be nice. It was hard to connect because they seemed so distant.