Farmer's Fridge Interview Questions
& Process

So I started with a phone screening, then a phone interview, and then I had two in-person interviews. The manager was really flaky about whether they even had the job open, and the whole thing felt really unprofessional. I was ghosted twice! They said they'd call me back with more info on a specific day, and then nothing. A month later, they reached out again asking if I was still interested, and I said yes. I went in for another interview, prepped a case study, and talked to five different people. One interviewer didn't even know what job I was interviewing for or what it entailed. Another interviewer wasn't even listening to my answers. It felt like the person organizing it didn't check if the other interviewers were available, because I spent a lot of time just waiting around. I didn't even get to meet the main person I was supposed to talk to because they were out of town. The next week, they contacted my references. One reference mentioned they called 45 minutes late for their scheduled call. Then they told me they'd made a decision and would let me know the next morning, but I never heard back. I called HR twice and left messages, but still no response. It's wild how they operate.

I applied online and then pinged the recruiter on LinkedIn. She quickly scheduled an intro call. She knew a lot about the company and answered my questions, and also learned about me. Next, I talked to the VP of Engineering. It was a chill chat but we went deeper into my tech background, and there were some behavioral questions too. Then, the recruiter sent over a coding challenge before the final interview, which was supposed to be technical. The coding challenge was well-designed and not too hard, and I could use any language. I sent it in, and the last interview was a Zoom call with the team. We started by reviewing my coding solution, where I explained my approach. The rest was pretty much talking, and I got to ask all my questions. This whole process was really great; I liked that there weren't any random LeetCode problems or whiteboard tests. I felt like Farmer's Fridge really saw what I could do and judged me fairly, which is super rare for a software engineer. I also learned a lot about their team and what it'd be like to work there. I didn't end up taking the job because I got a counteroffer I couldn't pass up, but I'd still totally recommend Farmer's Fridge to other software engineers tired of typical interviews.

I applied via the Framers website and got a call from HR for a casual phone chat where they asked some basic questions. Then, I was invited for an in-person interview. It was summer, so I dressed professionally in a suit, but the office was a large, open-air warehouse space with no AC. My interview was in a hot, humid room with no windows, and I wasn't offered water. The interviewers were dressed very casually. They asked typical HR questions, but I was mainly focused on the heat. Afterward, I sent a 'thank you' email but also indicated I wouldn't work there due to the poor treatment.

The CTO reached out to me directly to talk about my 'impressive resume' and said that while they had closed the role I had applied for, he was interested in having me potentially join the team for a new role he was creating. He shared with me that he's essentially curated his technology team by hand selecting his employees, so I was impressed and honored at the chance to discuss my qualifications. I was super excited about the opportunity, and motivated by his enthusiasm and articulated as much. The next steps were to hear from the CTO again about an on-site/in-person interview but despite three follow up emails on my end and a LinkedIn InMail to a recruiter at Farmer's Fridge, I heard nothing. If a C-Suite level person is reaching out to candidates directly, it is extremely poor form to not follow up in some way, whether that be to proceed or not. We're all professionals here, let's act like it.