Elementum Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I applied for this job via Indeed and soon got an email for a 30-minute phone chat with the recruiter. After that, I had a 45-minute technical phone interview. The whole thing was pretty quick, and I wasn't left waiting. Unfortunately, I got a rejection email about 2-3 days later. The recruiter I was in touch with was super nice, always replying kindly and giving detailed answers to my questions. The technical interviewer started off friendly, but as we went on, they seemed to get a bit impatient, probably because my coding wasn't up to par. I get it, though; it's a small, dynamic company with cool ideas. The work atmosphere seemed inviting, from what I could tell.

So I interviewed at Elementum for the Software Engineer-Backend role and it was a pretty good experience overall. The HR team was really responsive, they gave me all the details upfront and let me know if anything changed with the schedule. The technical part started with a quick intro chat with HR, then a coding interview on HackerRank. After that, I had a half-day onsite, which is pretty standard now. It had 5 rounds: First was a 45-minute programming test where I had to code in an IDE on a Mac, followed by a code review with two interviewers. Then, a 2-person panel asked about Data Structures, their Java implementations, and when to use which. They also gave me two whiteboard coding problems using Lists and Trees. Next, a 3-person panel quizzed me on multi-threading and design patterns like Singleton and Observer, and asked me to design a supply chain model. Then I met with the COO, and after that, had a technical chat with two engineers. Finally, I spoke with the hiring manager over the phone. The interviewers were all really approachable and happy to answer my questions about the company culture and work. I got the offer two days later and accepted it.

The recruiter put me in touch with the People Manager for the final round. There, I had a systems interview, then an architecture discussion, and finally a behavioral interview. While they were decent people, they went silent after the final round, even though the recruiter and I followed up asking for an update a couple of times. I know ghosting is getting common, but it feels really unprofessional at that stage. It's a clear sign they don't respect people. I guess this kind of behavior happens a lot internally, and maybe it's just how things are in workplaces now.