Collage.com Software Engineer 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.

So, I applied to Collage.com even after reading some pretty off-putting reviews, just out of genuine curiosity to see if there was more to their interview process. Turns out, there probably wasn't, or maybe I was just way off on what they were looking for personality-wise. The first interview, which was with the internal recruiter, got messed up by a technical glitch on Google Meet. I figured I'd just messed up connecting the first time and thought I'd made a bad first impression. We rescheduled for two days later, and I had to take time off work for both, which was inconvenient. The recruiter was a few minutes late to the rescheduled call, which felt like a red flag. We talked a lot about the company and they asked some personality questions, which was expected, and the conversation seemed to go well. They even said I would 'definitely' hear back the next business day. That never happened. I waited a few more days before following up to see about potential coding assessments and such, but still got nothing. Collage.com, based on other reviews, you really need to stop doing this to candidates. You say you're a start-up and take reviews seriously, but if I were in charge, I'd be worried about how you're running these interviews. I suspect I was probably ghosted after the first meeting when I waited on the call for 7 minutes with no follow-up. I emailed and was told Google Meet must have made a mistake, but honestly, I don't buy it. For everyone's sake at Collage.com, either fix your interview process or get your recruitment team some help so they aren't in a position where they have to make tough decisions that seem like they're covering for an overloaded schedule. Also, don't ghost your candidates, or you'll keep getting bad scores on GlassDoor.com. Good luck getting your growth under control.

i had a phone interview with a recruiter, then a coding test, an interview with an engineer, and completed a technical challenge. i enjoyed my meetings even though i was ultimately rejected. everyone was really nice. i thought the longer technical challenge was hard but nothing too surprising even though i didnt pass it and i got feedback at the end which was helpful to understand the decision.