CRITICALSTART Interview Questions
& Process

I first spoke with the TA person. I asked her what the hiring manager was looking for in the ideal candidate. She gave me a list that was off target. Then I met the hiring manager for about 5 minutes. He was nice enough, but laser-focused on my network. He wanted to know who I specifically know who can build an instant golden pipeline. It's fine to want that, but my issue is why didn't the hiring manager share this request with the TA person so I would not have wasted my time with this fantasy?

The first round was with HR, who was friendly and supportive. It was situation-based with about 7-8 questions. After that, I tried to connect with HR, but got cold responses. No feedback or review, no calls, no answers, and none of my emails were replied to. I don't know what the issue is with the ghosting; if a candidate doesn't meet your requirements and expectations, just let them know. Worst experience ever.

I interviewed for a software engineering role in Nov 2025 and completed four rounds. The first round was an online cognitive and behavioral assessment in a timed MCQ format. Then, for the second round (DSA), I was given a task allocation problem where I had to distribute tasks with different time requirements among multiple workers as fairly as possible. I discussed a greedy approach for this, where you track each worker’s current workload and repeatedly assign the next task to the least-loaded worker. Round 3 involved system design and scenario discussions with a US-based staff engineer. The final round was a scenario-based discussion with an India-based engineering lead. The technical interviewers were professional, and the conversations were thoughtful and engaging. From the beginning, I was transparent about my location and willingness to relocate for a hybrid setup. After completing all rounds, I was later informed I was not being moved forward due to concerns about whether I would join — despite my repeated confirmation of interest. A couple of months later, I was contacted again and asked about my potential joining timeline. After reconfirming interest, I was told I would need to resign from my current role before receiving an offer letter. Given the earlier experience, I requested a formal offer first. Communication stopped after that.

The interview process was super fast. I emailed the VP of Engineering, Mr. Vasu, after finding his contact online. He replied quickly, and we set up an interview for the next day. There were 3 rounds total. First was a phone screening on day 1 with the hiring manager, who explained the company and role. Then, I got asked some basic questions about Data Structures, Algorithms, and Complexities. He also looked at a project I have on GitHub, asked questions about it, and gave suggestions for improvement. I passed, and he scheduled the next two rounds. They really dig into your project code, which is amazing! Round 2 was a coding challenge sent on day 2. I had to build 4 RESTapi routes using Django, Elasticsearch, and restless. I hadn't used these before, so I asked for more time, and they were really helpful in getting it done. Round 3 was an on-site interview on day 4 at their HQ in Plano, TX. It was a 1.5-hour mix of technical and behavioral questions with Mr. Rob (CEO), Mr. Vasu (VP-Engineering), and Mr. Alin (VP-Marketing). They asked a lot of in-depth questions about one of my projects, my future plans, and real-life problems. I submitted the coding challenge on day 6 via pull request, and the interviewer reviewed it with me live, showing me how to do it better and told me to wait for other reviews. I got the offer on day 8 and accepted it on day 9.