Linode Interview Questions
& Process

Linode's hiring process kicks off with a friendly HR phone screening. Next, you'll chat with support leadership to gauge your technical knowledge and skills. They then fly you out for an on-site interview, covering your flight, rental car, and hotel. In my case, I was flown to Philadelphia and given a rental car to reach my hotel in Absecon, NJ, close to the Linode office. The office itself has a cool start-up vibe. You'll then have a sit-down with HR and support leadership to discuss the role and your experience. The vibe is conversational, not a stuffy Q&A, as they aim to get to know you. Following this, there are tests to assess your grasp of the technology, customer service, and writing skills, as good communication is key. Lunch is provided with the VP and support leadership, offering more interaction with the team. Finally, you wrap up with HR to finalize details and address any remaining questions. I had a great experience and was offered a position, though I declined for personal reasons. I highly recommend this role if you're passionate about the tech, friendly, and want to work for an innovative company.

Things started off great, very professional and fast with the initial screening interviews. But then it got complicated. The hiring manager had to go on PTO and then the department manager also went on PTO. I was supposed to get a HackerRank test link from the hiring manager before they left, but didn't. When I followed up about the link with the department manager, they were both out, so there was a big delay and lack of response. This messed up my timing for the test because I got busy with other work. When I finally got the link, they said there wasn't a strict deadline and not to worry, but then a week later they asked if I was still going to take it. The HackerRank test itself was a mess. There were issues with how the shell showed up in my browser, the Python part didn't have an interactive shell, and nothing was really standardized. It also had silent failures because of blocklists on my work computer, which kept resetting the test. Plus, there were AI monitoring alerts and distractions. The practice test didn't show these problems. The questions weren't super hard but included bash scripting, a confusing Python question without a shell, some multiple-choice questions about systems engineering and k8s, and a design whiteboard. Everything was kind of awkwardly written. HackerRank also prohibits any other software or tabs, and monitors your system, webcam, and audio. This means you can't look anything up, so if you don't know the exact syntax or solve it perfectly their way, you could fail. I got stuck on one problem that wouldn't work the way their system expected, and missed some other questions. The next day I got a generic rejection email. I never heard from the department manager again, and they didn't give me a reason for the rejection or respond when I reached out to thank them and explain the technical issues.

I got contacted by the recruiter and they set up a phone screen pretty quickly. They seemed really positive and it made me think this could be a good job. Then, they scheduled a two-hour in-person interview with me and seven other people. These were leads from different departments, not people I would directly report to. They all had different ideas and feelings about what a SCRUM Master should be doing, and some were pretty judgmental if your background wasn't exactly like theirs.

Applied online. Got an email from HR about availability after two weeks, submitted it but didn't hear back for a week. Got another email asking for availability. Finally, had an interview with two customer support managers where I answered all questions correctly and confidently. Got a standard rejection email the next morning. Asked for feedback but got no response.