Scale Media Interview Questions
& Process

I interviewed with Scale Media and went through several rounds. I got good feedback and was told I'd hear back about next steps either way. After not hearing back for over a week, I followed up twice with no response. Then I saw the job reposted. While I get not being a fit, ghosting candidates after they invest time and energy is unprofessional and shows how the company operates. A simple 'no' isn't hard to communicate.

The hiring process for the QA Analyst position at Scale was really good. It took about three weeks from start to finish, which was pretty fast. Everyone I talked to, from HR to the hiring manager, was really professional and nice. The HR team kept in touch a lot, so I always knew what was going on and they answered my questions quickly. It didn't feel like a high-pressure situation, more like talking about my career goals and if I'd fit in. Overall, it was a very positive experience because of how respectful and efficient everyone was. It seems like a good company culture.

Really disappointed with this interview process. They don't assess candidates on typical engineering skills like accessibility, ARIA, SQL query optimizations, React lifecycles, MVC patterns, OOP, design patterns, website responsiveness, bug identification, refactoring, API building, or code reviewing. Instead, they ask ignorant 'gotcha' questions that don't help identify good candidates. Examples include trivia like 'What is the default value of the third argument of the chunk_split() function?' or 'What rule set was released with CSS3?'. It's unreasonable to expect full stack engineers to remember such trivia, especially with the constant context switching and reliance on documentation. Many developers and even a VP of engineering I spoke with would withdraw their application upon seeing this. Is this the culture you want? If you still want to apply, you have to answer 'What is the default argument for the third parameter of FinalizationRegistry.register?' without googling.

We started with a basic HR phone call just to make sure you're a real person. Then, there was a quick chat with the Recruiter to see if you and the company vibe. After that, the main interview with your potential day-to-day bosses happened. If they liked you, they passed it up to HR. Next, you might chat with an executive. If they give the green light, you could have an interview with the Head of People and Cultures, which is pretty much just HR, a great spot to ask all your questions, check out benefits, or clear up any worries. If it's still a good fit all around, they'll extend an offer.