Distru Interview Questions
& Process

First, I got an email about an interview, which was a Zoom call with the Executive Assistant. Then, the second stage was a zoom call with the Chief of Staff.

After I got an email with an interview request, I picked a time, and then had my first video interview with someone from the Operations team the next week. About 24 hours after the interview, I got an email saying I didn't get the job. It felt weird not being interviewed by someone from HR (they said it's their standard procedure), sometimes that could mean a company is really short-staffed. I did like that they told me the whole interview process upfront, it sounded okay and not too long, but they did mention a take-home assignment, which can be a bit of a red flag if it feels like they're just trying to get free work. Usually, you can figure out what you need to know during the interview itself, using behavioral and critical incident-type questions, rather than being given tasks.

The first interview was great, a real conversation focusing on me as a person and professional. They stressed that they'd teach me anything I didn't know and reinforce what I did know, which I found promising since this industry often expects prior training. The second interview with the CEO was rough and short, only 13 minutes. He rushed through my professional history, skipped straight to my questions for him, and then ended it. He seemed uninterested and in a hurry. He did say that if I didn't get the job, it wasn't my fault but due to others having more specific experience, though he thought I was capable and nice.

The interview started with a phone screen, then a take-home assignment, and finally a virtual on-site. The phone screen felt a bit off since the CTO is new to tech and doesn't have a formal comp-sci background, but they were nice. I got the take-home assignment via email and sent it back the next day. There was a mix-up where they initially said they wouldn't proceed, thinking my application was someone else's. After they fixed that, I was given access to their git repo and scheduled for a 4-hour virtual on-site a few days later. During the on-site, they had me implement a feature while they watched, which was a fair assignment and gave me a feel for their code. After investing at least 10 hours in total, they rejected me because my salary expectations were too high, even though they were lower than my current salary and I had mentioned them earlier. They implied my salary request was only possible if I had worked for a FANG or attended an Ivy League school, which was strange coming from the CTO who lacks a comp-sci undergrad.