Pulley Frontend Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started off strong with four interviews with the engineering team. These conversations were enjoyable, featuring smart and respectful interactions, and even allowed the use of AI tools. However, the experience declined during the final interview with the CEO, Yin Wu. She joined 15 minutes late, setting an unprofessional tone. Initially, she asked about my background and feedback from past colleagues. The interview took a turn when she asked me to rank my job priorities, and I placed work-life balance above company mission. This seemed to be an unwelcome response. When I inquired about negative Glassdoor reviews and the previous layoff of the engineering team, she termed it a "strategic decision" due to the team being too junior and couldn't guarantee it wouldn't occur again. She also stated that her definition of work-life balance involves prioritizing her children's needs, with all other time dedicated to work, and that working beyond standard hours is expected at a startup like Pulley if deadlines demand it. She concluded by suggesting I needed to determine the type of company I wanted to work for, implying the process wouldn't continue, despite her team reaching out to me. I left disappointed, not due to not getting the job, but because the engineering team seemed great and deserved better leadership. Based on this and past employee feedback, I advise software engineers that job security is precarious and leadership doesn't value a healthy work culture.

My biggest red flag for companies is when they send an assessment before I even talk to anyone. It feels like they don't respect my time. I applied for a Frontend Engineer role and they immediately sent me an assessment. I usually wouldn't bother, but I decided to give them a chance. The assessment isn't super hard, but it's definitely not easy or quick either. It was like a coding puzzle where I had to decode encrypted paths to find the next endpoint. They said it would take 30-45 minutes, which is totally wrong. Companies need to stop guessing how long these things take. If you're not into encryption, you'll probably spend a lot of time looking up methods, which means trial and error. I worked on it for a few hours, then decided to look into the company and found a bunch of bad reviews. I'm not doing the assessment anymore, especially since I saw that even people who finished it didn't get to the phone screen.

The interview process for this role is quite a time sink. It starts with an initial encryption coding challenge before you even talk to anyone. Then there's a lengthy take-home challenge, which took me about 20 hours to complete. After that, you have an interview where you'll need to add even more features to your take-home project live. Following the technical screenings, there's a 'culture' interview, only to be told they're looking for someone more senior. The process isn't hard, just designed to waste your time.