Marchex Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Marchex came to my University's career fair and gave out a challenge problem. I completed the problems and explained my solution to an engineer. They invited me to dinner and offered me an interview for a Software Engineering internship. The interview was one on-site stage with 3 parts. The first was a pair programming exercise where one engineer programmed with me and another took notes. The question involved test driven design for a family tree type object. The next part was a basic object oriented design question. After this, I was asked a couple basic coding questions and then I could ask the interviewing engineer questions about the company. After that, I was given a tour of the office and the manager explained what the company does and their technology. Then, I was told offer decisions would be emailed a week later.

The hiring process was extremely unprofessional with phony excuses and promises to keep stringing people along, not giving a clear Yes or No. It's been a month now. It involved a phone screen and an onsite interview that took 4-5 hours. If all went well, there was another round of interviews with the VP and a PM. Basic algorithm and number theory questions were asked, which were on the easier side. After completing all the steps and dedicating more time to meet with the VP and PM, the internal recruiter repeatedly asked if I would accept the role if an offer was made. I received positive feedback, and internal HR promised an answer the next day. Nothing happened, but an excuse about a company meeting all day. Then another promise of a decision by the end of the week, which came and went with still no response. I reached out to HR directly, and again received another excuse saying the hiring manager was about to say something but got busy and would reach out next week. It's been a month, and I haven't bothered with them.

A recruiter reached out via email. I got put on a group email accidentally, but nothing sensitive was shared. The recruiter was mostly OK. The first interview was a casual phone call with the hiring manager. Right after that, I had a technical phone screen, and then later that day, I got an invite for an on-site interview loop. The loop had three 2-on-1 interviews, a 1-on-1 lunch interview, and a quick chat with the recruiter at the end. It took up most of the day. Mostly technical programming questions and some resume stuff. The recruiter emailed to wish me luck the day before. It seemed to go well. I then had a second on-site 2-on-1 interview with two other team members, which also seemed good. Later, I was told that even though my interviews went well and everyone wanted to hire me, the job itself was eliminated, so they couldn't offer me anything. I then had an informational interview with another manager and two on-site 1:1 interviews for a smaller team, but that didn't work out and they sort of forgot about me. Most of the process felt alright, but I was always a bit unsure about the company. The workspace was basically a cube farm, which is pretty average and doesn't really stack up against the bigger tech companies or startups in Seattle. It really sucks to cancel job openings after interviewing people, and it says a lot about their management.