GitHub Product Designer Interview Questions
& Process

I've been a big GitHub user for a while and was really disappointed by how poorly I was treated during their interviews. The initial HR chat felt cold and uninspiring, and the hiring manager interview was much the same. He hardly said hello before immediately stating the role was for someone 'very experienced' and then went on a weird tangent about how 'busy' he was. Throughout the conversation, it felt like he was in another meeting and made no effort to seem respectful of my time. I've interviewed with many big tech companies and never encountered such unprofessional conduct. After the call, I took the time to email their internal recruiter about my experience, but as expected, they didn't even acknowledge the effort I made to share my feedback. I'm avoiding this company both as a professional and as a user.

The interview process kicked off with phone chats with a recruiter and the team lead. They were pretty laid-back to check if my background fit what they needed and to give me more deets on the team and how they do design. Standard stuff for the first talks. Then came a written design task (writing is key since we're mostly remote). They suggest 90 mins, but honestly, not sure if that's doable. A couple days later, I was invited for the final onsite, which was an all-day thing – way longer than any other onsite I've done. It was mostly the usual setup, just super long: an hour for my portfolio, a design task, and 1:1s all day. Since many folks work remotely, some 1:1s were on Zoom, which took a minute to adjust to. All in all, it was a really good experience – everyone was super nice and welcoming. Seems like a fun team that digs their work. The only bummer was the lack of breaks during the onsite. I was chatting with people for a solid 7 hours straight (including lunch), which can really wear you out.

About a month after applying, I got an email from a recruiter referencing a phone screen we apparently had (we hadn't) and setting up a meeting with the hiring manager. There was no prior conversation, but I went with it to get the next interview. The chat with the hiring manager was enjoyable and conversational, touching on my industry experience and career aspirations. Afterward, like many companies lately, I never heard back. It was a very odd, jumbled, and unorganized process. While I liked the hiring manager and sent thank you notes, the whole experience was quite strange and confusing. I suspect they might have mixed me up with someone else.