MapQuest Interview Questions
& Process

I spent over 8 hours across three weeks doing phone interviews and a 3-hour in-person interview at the Denver office with different team members. After the in-person, they said the top candidate would have a final call with the VP in NY and make a quick decision. I had that call with the VP in NY, and they said positive things about my skills for the role. I expected to hear back after investing so much personal time prepping and interviewing with many people. Weeks went by with no response. Not even a rejection. It felt unprofessional and disrespectful of my time. Over 5 weeks after the in-person, I got an automated email saying they weren't recruiting for the position anymore. This is something you send to someone who doesn't get an interview, not someone who spent hours interviewing with 10+ people.

I had an initial phone call that lasted over an hour with the hiring manager. We talked about the technologies on my resume, but it wasn't super technical and there were no difficult coding problems. After that, I was invited for an in-person interview. It was scheduled to be about 4+ hours long and I was supposed to meet with 5-6 people. During the in-person part, it felt like the interviewers hadn't reviewed my resume beforehand. Most of the questions were about search technology in general terms. I didn't get an offer because they said I didn't know enough about the inner workings of a popular open-source search library, which is kind of funny because I don't recall them asking me anything to check my knowledge in that specific area. The job is still open.

The interview process started with an online application. About 3 days later, I had a 30-minute phone call with the hiring manager and chief Product Manager, who asked general introductory questions. They mentioned a follow-up call within 3 days. A few hours after that, I received another 30-minute call from a Product Management supervisor, who praised my resume and mentioned sending it to talent acquisition. They discussed my timeline and informed me about an upcoming onsite interview via email. Around 3 days later, I got an email to schedule the onsite interview. A week after that, I traveled to the Denver headquarters for the interview. The interview itself involved four 30-minute conversations: some in Denver and some via teleconference with people in PA. There was a 20-minute delay due to issues with the video system. I also had a 45-minute conversation with a Cultural Advisor who used a list of questions and seemingly graded my answers, taking notes and paraphrasing them. One interviewer, a Project Manager from PA, came across as aggressive and asked loaded questions, including dismissive comments about my non-profit work experience.

The interview process felt really fair for everyone involved, allowing both sides to figure out if it's a good fit. MapQuest did a great job with that. For developer roles, there's usually a code test. The take-home test was great because it showed general dev knowledge and problem-solving without being insane. The in-person interview was also timely and fair, I could easily show my skills and they got the info they needed. I also got to ask questions to people with different jobs and skills. Meeting the team members also gave me a good vibe about the company culture, which is big for me. The whole thing was fair and quick; I spent maybe 2 hours total, and they got back to me the same day. So, the whole process took 2 days! I'll definitely be reusing some ideas from this. And that Mac shop comment some other person wrote? That's just silly.