LeafLink Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The recruiter reached out and I went through 6 rounds of interviews. Most of them were via Zoom, but a couple were just phone calls. We used Coderpad for the coding part and Miro for the systems design. The rest involved a lot of talking. The coding round was the one that stood out. There was this really complicated data iterating problem. It wasn't super hard, but it had a lot of extra info thrown in. The goal was to reduce the data and then do some summing, max, or average calculations. The interviewer said they wanted to see my thought process, but they mostly just picked apart every single word I wrote. They were the type to point out a missed bracket like 0.3 seconds after I typed it. I had to ask them to give me some space to actually think. They talked non-stop while I was trying to work through the problem and were generally pretty rude. In another round, I was asked about my approach to mentorship, but the feedback was that I didn't give enough concrete examples, even though the question was about the core idea, not specific scenarios. The Software Manager I spoke with was great, though, and had a really positive outlook and vision for the company. When I asked about the actual job duties, they were selling it as a 'senior software position,' but when we got into the details, it sounds like they just need someone to refactor old Django code. Overall, it was a pretty off-putting experience. The recruiter was super enthusiastic and made me feel like the company was really interested, but after going through the interviews, it feels like a pretty standard development shop with a ton of technical debt and some serious cultural problems. I'd recommend avoiding it.

I had a really good interview experience with LeafLink, and I wanted to share. The recruiter I spoke with first was super communicative and transparent about everything, which I appreciated because usually I feel out of the loop. She kept me updated regularly, even when there wasn't much new info. It was great talking to someone who really made an effort to give updates and feedback, no matter what. The hiring manager and the team were also awesome. They answered all my questions and even gave me a peek at some cool projects they're working on. Even though I didn't get the offer in the end, I really enjoyed connecting with people during the process. I'm definitely planning to reapply later as I keep improving my skills. LeafLink really impressed me with their process and how they support learning and connections.

Had a phone call screen with one of the founders. This guy was totally "bro company" material and could not have cared less about speaking. It was clear from photos of this company that they do not hire anyone older than 24 years old so I wasn't expecting much of an interview process. They use recruiters that do not take into consideration their age and sex criteria.