Imgur Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online and also through an employee referral. The process took 7 weeks total from application to offer. It started with a recruiter phone screen, then a coffee chat with the hiring manager and recruiter. After that, I had an in-person interview with 6 people from engineering, product, and design, followed by an onsite lunch with 3 people and a debrief with the recruiter. The final interview was with the CEO, who was on vacation initially but I was able to meet him later when I returned to the office. I received a verbal offer the next day and a formal offer the day after. The overall experience was really welcoming and positive. There was a slight delay scheduling the first phone screen, but it was smooth sailing after that. John, the recruiter, was great throughout. The coffee chat was a cool, new step where we explored ideas casually. The office culture felt very informal and warm, with cool decor, hangout areas, and dogs. Since this was Imgur's first TPM role, the interviewers were really interested in my perspective and asked for feedback on their challenges, which felt like a great exchange of ideas. I had another offer but chose Imgur because the decision wasn't too hard.

The interview process was pretty standard for a fast-paced startup. It's more on you to reach out and make yourself known, unlike big tech firms that actively recruit. They didn't ask any tricky questions. Instead, it was a mix of questions that should be obvious to anyone honest on their resume and 'how would you build a system to do X?' type questions. There were only a couple of silly, 'Googley' questions, mainly for fun and to get to know you. No new tech was brought up. While I think new trends are key for future success, they seemed more interested in traditional Linux hackers, which is fine. Not for the fanboys though.

The interview process started with a technical phone call, and then an onsite interview. The onsite was a bit disorganized. The ML team is small, comprising one engineer and a VP who was new to the company. I had the technical call with the engineer. About four days before the onsite, the recruiters tried to reschedule. After some back and forth, where they kept asking to change the date and time, we finally settled on a date a little over a day before the original plan. The recruiter mentioned I'd only meet the engineer I'd spoken to before, but also hinted the VP was looking forward to dedicated time with me. It was unclear why they couldn't find overlapping availability for two people, and why I was scheduled to meet only the same person again. Nevertheless, I agreed and proceeded. The onsite itself was mainly a discussion about their current projects. The conversation didn't cover a wide range of topics. A week and a half later, the recruiter informed me that the onsite went well, but they had put a hold on hiring for this role to focus on hiring more management.

I had several video interviews with leaders from most departments (sales, creative, account management, finance) as well as the CEO and COO. I then had to do a mock pitch in front of the team. They asked really good questions that needed specific examples from my past work. They also asked about how I collaborated with others to make sure I'd be a good fit for the Imgur culture.