Gem Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

This was for the entry level fullstack engineer role. They reached out to me within a few days after I submitted my application online. First round was a 1-hour "data structures and algorithms" interview - not exactly leetcode, but overall straightforward and not difficult in any means. The onsite was in-person in SF (if you're local), consisting of a 1-hour values interview, 2.5-hour fullstack project, lunch with the team, 45-min product architecture discussion, and a wrap up discussion with the CTO. The values interview was a pretty standard behavioral. The fullstack project was definitely a curveball - they told me I didn't need to have any experience with the languages they were using (React, Python, Graphql), but it definitely required some affinity with those languages. I ended up "not implementing enough" of it, and they also told me that I should have talked to the interviewer more during process, while the interviewer told me the opposite during the interview - that I didn't need to explain my thinking or discuss much with him. The project was just to implement a calendar scheduling system, with provided skeleton code. The product architecture discussion was discussing the architecture of the project, and in hindsight you needed to have detailed pre-existing knowledge about HTTP requests or GraphQL requests, and be able to describe the exact interaction between the front and backend services. As a new grad, I did not know what exactly they wanted me to describe, as it was extremely open-ended and I had not done system design interviews before either. I was not given the proper resources to prepare. I would say the people there seemed nice and very smart, but my onsite was very non-standard compared to all the other interviews I've done, and I got screwed over by things I was not told to prepare for. Whole process was very speedy though, finished within 2 weeks.

I had a 1-hour Zoom call that used a Coderpad-like interface. The interviewer seemed disengaged, frequently using his phone, and it felt like my thought process didn't matter as long as the code compiled. He showed no interest in our conversation and let me lead the interview. For example, with 10 minutes remaining, I suggested we discuss the company since my solution was already developed, but he responded, "up to you buddy." I never heard about Gem, and it was clear he'd already decided and wasn't paying attention anymore.

I spoke with the CTO, then did a coderpad question with an engineer who was helpful and fun. Since I did well, I was invited to a virtual onsite, which the recruiter said would be from 10am-6pm. I asked if this was an 8-hr interview or just their availability window, and if I could spread it over two days in 2-4 hour chunks, providing my availability. But then nothing, and I haven't heard back in over a month. It's poor form to ghost a candidate, especially when hiring is supposed to be their specialty.