Collage.com Interview Questions
& Process

The interview journey started with a 30-minute phone screen, followed by a 1-hour technical test on codingame.com focused on Javascript and Promises. Next, I had a 1-hour video call with an engineering manager where we chatted about my past technical work, agile development, remote teamwork, and my perceived successes and failures. After that, there was a take-home assignment involving adding new features to a component and making necessary refactoring, though a complete overhaul was discouraged. Questions were welcome during the assignment, and the CTO was responsive. The final stage included two 1-hour interviews with the founders. Kevin's interview was more technical with a behavioral slant (teamwork, communication, learning from mistakes), while Joey's focused on my fit for remote work and the company culture. The whole process took a bit over a month, but could have been faster if needed. Video interviews felt a bit awkward due to potential tech issues and difficulty reading people. The process was rigorous, which made me feel confident about the company's hiring selectivity and the potential fit if an offer was extended.

They called me on the phone and expected me to solve a geometric problem on a skype screenshare within 1 hour. Having someone watching my thought process and every code change made me nervous and I only finished 3/4 of the test cases. They said the test was for measuring my algebraic problem solving skills. I found the intense oversight over my problem-solving process to be intrusive and unnerving. Considering the job was for UI development and didn't involve these kinds of problems or processes, it felt like a surprise college exam. It wasn't clear if they were testing my ability to perform under pressure. If they don't change their process, they'll lose out on a lot of talented people with different thinking styles and speeds. After about a week, I followed up via email and it was hinted that I didn't make the cut.

The interview process was pretty standard. After submitting my online application, which had two short coding tests, I got an email for a phone interview. The interview started with a question about my interest in the role, followed by an opportunity for me to ask questions. Then, we moved to a live coding challenge. The task was to devise a solution for handling two asynchronous AJAX requests, ensuring one completed while the other was optional, all within a user-perceived time limit before redirection. I presented a solution, and the interviewer commented that it was functional but could be marginally faster. The next day, I received an email stating I wasn't a good fit, which surprised me as they hadn't asked anything about my experience managing a development team or my qualifications, aside from the coding test. Given my extensive experience with their technologies and successful team management, I question the effectiveness of this hiring approach. I'm still perplexed how they concluded I was a poor fit after the coding test, especially since they had my resume and were interested enough to invite me for the test, where I provided a valid solution, even if it wasn't directly related to the job. It's a shame because I'm a dedicated employee who would have committed fully.

I initially had a 30-minute call with their head of talent acquisition. We talked about the job and my background. It was a good chat and made me more interested. Next, there was a 60-minute live coding session with a lead engineer. The task was pretty straightforward but had a few small tricky parts. I struggled a bit with it due to nerves and not being sharp, only finishing about 75%. The engineer was really nice though, and it was a good experience overall. It seems like a really selective startup, and I bet it's a great place to work. They were right not to move forward with me based on my coding performance, but they were very decent about it.