Pendo Product Designer Interview Questions
& Process

This was a really bad, unprofessional experience. I applied for the product designer position and got a recruiter email within a day. I had a call with the recruiter a couple days later, which was fine, and then was asked to schedule a call with the hiring manager. This, too, was fine. Then Pendo scheduled an on-site interview. I went to it and there were some goods parts and some meh parts — really just subjective stuff that I look for as a designer, like whether the design team has backgrounds in actual product design, etc, to indicate whether the role is taken seriously at a company. Anyway, I went in on a Monday and I left with mixed emotions about whether I would be interested and whether they were interested, but the hiring manager and the recruiter came in separately to ask me what my timeline for starting a new position would be if they made an offer right away, and to discuss some of their benefits. The interview ended with the recruiter saying they’d be in touch by the end of the week. Flash forward to Friday, and nothing. Next I get an early Saturday morning email from the recruiter apologizing for not following up and saying that they still had no updates. At this point I figured they were finishing a week of interviews and didn’t think much of it. Then, the next Tuesday, I get another email from the recruiter saying they still don’t have updates but should have something by the end of the day. At this point it seems clear to me that they’re keeping people hanging even though they’re not serious — a classic jerk move that should always be avoided by a scrupulous company. No follow up by the end of that day. By that Friday I had had enough — the disrespectful wait time and lack of follow ups had completely blotted out any interest I had, but I was really annoyed by the behavior. I sent a Friday afternoon email saying I would need an update because I had other offers/final stage interviews (all true). The recruiter called me immediately and what do you know, the hiring manager had decided to give him an update 30 seconds after I sent my email (juuuust kidding, but that was his story). He said the hiring manager had JUST decided not to move forward, gave a bunch of reasons that didn’t really make sense, and then said they’d love for me to apply again later. I was pretty clear with this same feedback at the time about the hiring team’s obviously crappy practices the bad impression it left me as a candidate, but never really got an apology — and DEFINITELY not a message from the hiring manager, who presumably condoned/directed this behavior. You’re never treated better than during an interview process, and I think this speaks volumes about how the Pendo design team values and respects candidates and other people in general.

First up was a portfolio review with the Hiring Manager, followed by a 1:1 chat with them. Then, I had a 1 hr session where I presented my portfolio to a panel. After that, there were 2 interviews, each with 2 design team members. The final part was a 1:1 with the Design Officer. It took them more than a week to make a decision, and the recruiter wasn't the best at keeping in touch. Just a heads up, the final interview needs a solid 3.5 hours of your time.

Started with an HR interview, then talked to the director of design. Next was a home assignment, followed by a team portfolio review. Then had onsite interviews with the devs, product, and design teams. After that, I interviewed with the CPO and then the CEO. Finally, there were reference calls.