O'Reilly Media Interview Questions
& Process

This was an extremely opaque and dishonest process if my experience is anything to go by – watch out when dealing with them. I really wish I had been warned. I received nothing but praise and excitement from reps at every level of the sales team and truly felt I belonged. I never felt like I had competition and was always reassured about how well I was doing, with no criticism. I was very excited about the role, and at the end of the interviews, I was given a document welcoming me to the company during a chat about pay and benefits, then told I'd hear back soon. A week later, I emailed for an update and to offer help, and was just assured I'd hear back soon. Earlier that day, I found out, someone else was hired. They didn't tell me I wasn't being considered until two days after the other person accepted the job, and they did it with a form letter, not a call, explanation, or apology for welcoming me to the company. When I asked for an explanation, accountability for welcoming me then rejecting me, and feedback on how I could have done better, my email was ignored. I'm appalled at the unprofessionalism. I've never been so built up and let down by a company, and I'm shocked an organization of this repute would be so inconsiderate, especially to a candidate they repeatedly assured was qualified and would thrive. O'Reilly needs to know that they shouldn't suggest to candidates they aren't sure about hiring that they've gotten the job, and that this behavior creates a toxic environment for qualified candidates who might otherwise stay in touch. As it is, with this disorganization and unprofessionalism, I'm not only not interested in doing more business with them, but I'll be telling acquaintances in tech about my experience trying to communicate with them.

So the interview process was like this: first, a phone screen, then a technical challenge, and finally a two-hour interview that was split into an hour of technical questions and an hour of cultural fit questions. Overall, I liked the interview experience. The technical challenge was pretty straightforward, just challenging enough. The two-hour interview was actually really nice, I met some of the coolest people ever during an interview. I didn't feel like I was being interrogated at all. It was a nice change.

This whole thing took about a month and had four interviews. First, there was an Engineering Manager screen, a 30-minute phone call. Then, a take-home coding exercise on GitHub. After that, an interview with two engineers to go over the coding exercise, plus a behavioral interview with two folks who have been at the company for 5+ years. Finally, a meeting with HR (the recruiter I was talking to the whole time via email) to discuss benefits and salary. The last interview was a 2-hour block. The first two parts were 45 minutes each, and the last 15 minutes was the recruiter chat. Funny thing, I saw one of the interviewers give a talk saying companies shouldn't do group interviews so people can be themselves, and then we had a group interview! But overall, it was a good experience.

I was contacted for an initial phone interview and offered several time slots. No time was confirmed, and I didn't hear back for about a week. The following week, during work hours, I received a call, voicemail, and email stating the HR rep had attempted the phone interview. I replied, explaining I was working and available during an additional time slot offered the next day. No confirmation was given. I waited by the phone for 30 minutes past that time, but wasn't called. The HR rep seemed to expect me to be available immediately, when scheduling the interview would have been simple. This felt disrespectful and reflects poorly on the company. Today, I got a notice that my qualifications didn't match available positions, despite seeing the role reposted online.