Mozilla Web Developer Interview Questions
& Process

I saw the job posting on Craigslist and applied. A recruiter reached out a week later to schedule an initial phone screening. During the screening, they asked me to self-rate my skills with various technologies, but it wasn't clear what the rating scale was. I then had a phone interview scheduled with a developer, but it got canceled and rescheduled for over a week later. The actual phone interview was challenging due to the poor audio quality from the remote setup, and I often had to ask for clarification. The questions were pretty vague. They asked how I'd optimize a web app without any context, and then asked about technologies I'd used before, even if they weren't relevant to the job. The interviewer ended the interview early because he was going to a pub. About a week later, I got a generic email saying they weren't moving forward with my application.

I was first contacted by a Technical recruiter at Mozilla on 6/28/2011. After about 20 days, on 7/19/2011, another recruiter from Mozilla followed up via email and scheduled a Skype call for 7/20/2011. However, the recruiter didn't show up on time, blaming a Google calendar issue, so the call was moved to the next day. The introductory call happened on 7/21/2011. During this call, I mentioned I'm more of a backend (architecture and development) person than a frontend (html/css/js) developer. The recruiter informed me that the position could be remote (from India) or based in their US HQ, depending on the interviews and VISA situation. He also mentioned the typical process involves three phone interviews followed by on-site interviews. He gave me details about ongoing projects and teams at Mozilla. The first interview was scheduled for 7/27/2011. Unfortunately, the interviewer was an hour late, and I had to contact the recruiter to get them on the call. The interview, starting at 11 PM IST, was purely technical, covering web fundamentals, HTTP, web development, web security, Python, and Django. On 7/30/2011, the recruiter got back to me, inquired about my availability for the next interview, and passed on the scheduling to a coordinator. The coordinator arranged the next interview for 8/5/2011. However, the interviewer didn't show up again. After I contacted the coordinator, she rescheduled the interview with a different person for 8/10/2011. This second attempt at Interview 2 was with a great interviewer, a hardcore backend developer with whom I shared many interests. The interview was technical, focusing on web fundamentals, HTTP, web development, web security, Python, and Django, with some discussion on development philosophy, technical debt, maintainability, and testing. On 8/16/2011, the recruiter contacted me again, expressing a desire to schedule another call. The coordinator set this up for 8/24/2011. On 8/23/2011, the coordinator emailed to say the interviewer had a conflict and wanted to move the interview up by an hour on the 24th. Interview 3, on 8/24/2011, was another technical interview covering web fundamentals, HTTP, web development, web security, Python, and Django. After this, there was a two-week silence, even after I followed up twice. On 9/6/2011, the recruiter finally responded and scheduled a call with the Director of Web Development for 9/7/2011. Interview 4 was mostly general with some technical aspects, and more information about teams and projects. Then came another three-week silence, despite me letting them know they were testing my patience. On 9/29/2011, the recruiter got back with a change of plans: all five planned on-site interviews would now be conducted over Skype across two days, with various excuses given for not bringing me to their location. They were vague in their responses. On 10/1/2011, a new coordinator reached out and scheduled three interviews for 10/5/2011 and two for 10/6/2011. Interview 5 on 10/5/2011 was technical, covering backend web development, web/HTTP fundamentals, web security, Python, Django, and testing. Interview 6, also on 10/5/2011, was technical, focusing heavily on testing because the interviewer authored a popular Python testing framework. Interview 7, later on 10/5/2011, was a frontend interview with HTML/CSS and a lot of Javascript, which I didn't do well on. Interview 8 on 10/6/2011 was technical, similar to Interview 5. Interview 9, the concluding interview with the director of web development, was on 10/6/2011. After a week of no response, I emailed on 10/11/2011. The recruiter replied on 10/12/2011, stating my backend skills were a perfect match but they needed a full-stack developer. I was surprised, as I had mentioned I wasn't a frontend developer in the very first interview, and it took them 3.5 months to realize this. I expressed my disbelief and disagreement, and neither side followed up after that. The whole experience felt unprofessional.

I sent in my application online, and then a recruiter I know through a friend reached out. They got back to me in about a week and set up a Skype interview. That first one was mostly about basic web stuff, my personal projects, and the reasoning behind my choices. Then, they invited me back for a second interview, which really dove into my projects – focusing on my decisions and the 'why' behind them. The end of that interview covered technical questions about the programming language I'd be using. After that, I had a super chill chat with the team lead where I got to ask a bunch of questions about the company. A few days later, I got an email with the offer details.