Reforge Interview Questions
& Process

It was a 45 min zoom, then a 1-hour zoom with the recruiter. After that, I had to submit a Hiring Manager Assignment (they might ask you to present it). Then there was a 1-hour panel presentation to 4 Reforge employees, followed by 4 hours of 1-on-1s with each of those employees. This whole thing took up a ton of time and effort, and I didn't really get to learn much about the company or its culture. The answers about work/life balance were really concerning, and it seemed like they weren't clear on their business or hiring needs, which felt like a leadership and business acumen issue. To top it off, they told me at the end that they probably needed more of a growth marketing manager/generalist instead of the senior product marketer role that was advertised.

I was first contacted about the role. I'm pretty happy with my current job but decided to chat because I've heard good things about Reforge. Red flag 1: they asked where I heard about the job and then repeated 4x that it was a 'hands on' role. I said I do that currently - manage devs and plan - but they asked again. Red flag 2: the second round was okay - management style, project deep dive - but I didn't like their answer to my question about recent layoffs. They said, 'We didn't hire the right people.' Layoffs happen, but blaming the employees they let go wasn't great. I had already decided not to continue or refer anyone, and they helped by ghosting me after round 2. Win win.

I had good calls with the recruiter and the hiring manager. It seemed like a great place to work with a strong mission and an emphasis on continuous learning and growth. I was invited to do a technical interview which was framed as a "code review/ simulation" but it was pretty much just a standard technical interview. I froze up and ended up completely bombing it. I'm not sure why the interview was framed as being a "collaborative code review" because when I was stuck I didn't feel like I was getting pushed in the right direction. I knew I had bombed the interview and wasn't going to get invited to move onto the next round, but I was pretty shocked to get an automated rejection email from a no-reply. After spending time talking to a recruiter, the hiring manager, preparing for a technical interview, I would expect an email from an actual human. It sucks that it's becoming standard practice to treat candidates who take time out of their day like that. It doesn't take that long to write an email.

I applied on the company website, the application was pretty easy. A recruiter reached out within 3 days to set up a Zoom call (audio only). We talked for about 35-40 minutes. The recruiter was new and didn't have much info about the role or his own experience at the company, but he was nice. That was it for my interview process. The next step would've been talking to the Head of Partners.