LaunchDarkly Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was pretty standard: a recruiter screen, then a hiring manager interview, followed by a panel interview, and concluding with a final presentation. Everything went well until the presentation stage. I was given a prompt that seemed AI-generated, with two parts: a hypothetical scenario and a deep dive into my framework and approach for the role, with one hour to prepare my presentation. However, the prompt didn't really align with what the team is actually looking for. While I got positive feedback on how I handled the prompt, what they were truly interested in were concrete examples related to specific, nuanced internal problems they're facing. I think they should have included those kinds of questions in the presentation prompt.

The entire interview process took a little over three weeks. First, there was a recruiter screening. Then, I had an interview with the hiring manager. After that, there was an optional peer interview. Next, I interviewed with the VP. Following that, I had a presentation and a mock call. Finally, I had a call with the President.

It was a pretty weird interview experience overall. The tool they used for managing interviews was complicated and not very dependable. The whole process felt long and confusing because I'd get conflicting signals. Sometimes the hiring manager would schedule an interview, but I wouldn't get the invite, so I had to follow up multiple times. It also became apparent that the company has some serious cultural issues they're trying to fix with new hires, but it seems like the existing team hasn't fully bought in yet.

The whole process was pretty standard, but the way that the rejection was handled was just disrespectful. I passed the recruiter screen and hiring manager screen easily enough, there was nothing out of place there. I was asked to do a take home assignment - read in an API data stream in one service, have another service perform some operations on it. I made a simple Flask API app for the operations, finished it all in a couple of hours and turned it in. The recruiter said I would hear back by Monday at the absolute latest about setting up a code review interview. Monday rolls around, and there's nothing. Tuesday morning I reach out asking for updates. Nothing. Tuesday night just before midnight, my access to the take home assignment was revoked. Wednesday morning I receive a form rejection email. I don't mind being rejected, but if you're rejecting in-progress candidates you can at least give them a personal email with an actual reason. It's one thing to receive a form rejection from the get go, it's another to have interacted with several people, have had pleasant conversations, and then be tossed aside.