Native Instruments Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The initial part of the interview process was pretty standard, mostly getting to know you. After that, there was a technical interview where I had to complete a simple coding challenge on my own. We then discussed the code challenge with some team members I'd be working with. Following that, I met with the entire team so they could get acquainted with me and ask some questions. If everything went well, an offer would follow. It took a bit for them to review my application initially, but once September started, things moved really fast, and I got the offer in under a month.

I applied online for a Software Engineer role in Berlin from my home in London. First, I had to do a code challenge which was challenging but doable. After waiting a bit for feedback, possibly due to it being August, I had a one-hour Google Hangouts interview with the engineering manager and tech lead. Soon after, I was invited for a second interview, which luckily coincided with my visit to Berlin, so it was in person at the Native Instruments offices with three developers. We discussed my technical skills, how I like to work, and past challenges. I also got a tour and a brief chat with a hiring manager about the start date. I received a job offer after this.

I had a recruiter call, which was fine but a bit disengaged. After passing that, I received a take-home test. The task involved building a backend and frontend for two pages from scratch. It was stated to take about 4 hours, though they mentioned it usually takes a few days. I was given a week to complete it. Despite this, their review took almost a month, which felt excessive given the task's scope and my engagement in another process. The feedback I received seemed overly critical and possibly dishonest. Minor issues like a 'console.log' left in the code (to bypass a rate limiter not mentioned in the task) and the absence of linting (also not specified as a requirement) were highlighted. They even criticized my code formatting despite using VSCode's built-in formatter. Most baffling was their critique of the API implementation, which I had completed, and it seemed they still saw it and penalized me for it. This lengthy review time and multiple profile views by their recruiters made the rejection feel insincere. I really dislike receiving dishonest rejection feedback.