Octave Interview Questions
& Process

I waited 2 weeks for the interview and the interviewer seemed unhappy to be there. She didn't introduce herself or her role at Octave or give an overview of the role. Her portion of the interview lasted about 15 minutes. She asked 3 questions and seemed completely cold and disengaged as I responded. I tried to ask questions and add a little more about my experience but she looked blankly at me. At the end she said that she didn't know about next steps and that the interview was just put on her calendar. The recruiter was lovely and spent more time getting to know me than the 1st round interviewer did.

So, the TA process could be way better. First, the recruiter's number was flagged as spam, so calls wouldn't go through, which happens, but she got super accusatory, blaming my phone. I had to smooth talk, apologize, and spin it positively. Then, she barely answered my questions about her background or the company's mission, journey, and passion – I knew way more and was way more hyped about the company than she was. Plus, she wanted super specific answers from me about stuff not even on the JD, like employee relations experience (which was Question 1!) or managing the whole benefits renewal when the JD just said assisting with it. And just generally not courteous, starting with the accusatory tone (she even admitted later she had the same issue with someone else, so it was her phone!) and then ghosting my email for feedback after rejection. Usually, good recruiters give feedback if asked, and companies that care about data and performance send a quick survey. Since I got neither, I'm leaving this review on Glassdoor.

I started with a recruiter call where they chatted about the job and my background. Then, I had a 45-min chat with the hiring manager, who was a bit late. She asked me about my past projects. After that, I got a coderpad/hackerrank test and a take-home assignment. The take-home was to write a 2-page report with recommendations for business and operational decisions using data they gave me. It felt a little weird because some questions were super specific to their business, making it seem like they might be looking for free work.

So I ended up having like 10 interview calls, which felt a little long compared to other places, but honestly, everyone I talked to was super nice! I got to show off my portfolio, and I was glad there weren't any live or take-home design tasks. The recruiter was awesome and stayed in touch, helping me get ready for each chat. They were really good about telling me what to expect all through the process.