Reedsy Frontend Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Applied for the role and decided to give it a chance despite some negative reviews, but unfortunately, the experience was similar. A lot of work was required for the role, and it was unpaid, with compensation only if hired. The code review seemed to expect production-ready code aligned with their specific culture and preferences, which is unusual as developers typically adapt to a company's culture after being hired. Extra work done on a task was surprisingly marked as a negative. Fellow developers were baffled by the feedback and what Reedsy expects from candidates. After 15 years in frontend development, this experience was unique. It's recommended to consider the reviews and avoid wasting time on this company unless prepared to spend 20+ hours trying to guess their coding culture and preferences. There's a concern that a standard automated response might be given, but the consistency of negative reviews suggests a deeper issue.

After applying, I got an email with some questions about myself and a take-home assignment. The assignment had questions about my past experience, some technical questions on Javascript and HTML, and two projects: one for HTML + CSS and another for building an SPA. Completing the assignment took about two weekends plus a couple of hours each weekday evening, totaling under 30 hours. While it was a significant effort, I found it preferable to whiteboard interviews or typical algorithm/data structure problems. I was promised 500€ upon hiring as compensation for the work. Two days after submitting, I had a series of calls with team members, one each week for three weeks. The first call involved discussing my past experience, a quick review of my assignment, some more technical questions, and time for me to ask about the company. The subsequent two calls were primarily for meeting more team members, but also included technical questions and opportunities for me to ask questions. My sense from these three calls was that the focus was more on assessing my fit with the team and my communication skills rather than purely on technical knowledge; I even got the job despite not knowing the answers to some questions. I received an offer a few days after the third interview and was paid the promised 500€ on my first payroll. A drawback of the process was the lack of clarity on the roadmap, which caused some stress due to uncertainty about the number of steps. However, I shared this feedback with the CEO, and they've since updated the process to include this information.

I had a 30-minute call with an HR rep who was pleasant but seemed disengaged. After that, I got a technical test in my email along with some standard interview questions. They threw in a fun question about a favorite Giphy, probably to show off their fun side. The technical test itself was pretty intense, expecting 10 to 15+ hours of work, which is a lot for someone already working full-time. I did it anyway. The first part was answering some questions, which I got right, but they said my answers were too brief, wanting more like essays. The second part was a CSS layout recreation from a low-res JPEG, which felt like a junior task. They nitpicked small details like margins and border radii, which was frustrating given the bad JPEG quality. Then, I had to build a microsite using an API with list and page views. I used a standard architecture that's worked well and gotten me offers elsewhere for shorter tests. But here, they heavily criticized my solution, saying I didn't spend enough time, my linting rules were off, and the tests failed even though they worked. Overall, it was a really bad experience, and I'm glad I didn't get the job. My advice is to avoid this company.