Scuba Analytics Interview Questions
& Process

The recruiter reached out on Linkedin to gauge my interest in the role. We set up a 30-minute call for initial information gathering. After that, a call with the head of Customer Service was scheduled. It all seemed fine until they went silent after saying they'd schedule the next step, and didn't respond to my follow-up about the status. They ghosted me after I followed up, which was unprofessional given they initiated contact.

The on-site interview was a 4-hour process with several 1-on-1 or 2-on-1 interviews with different developers. After introductions, I was given coding challenges. The environment for coding was difficult due to people hovering and a cramped, hot room, making it hard to focus. I felt the challenges didn't test my core front-end UI development skills as advertised. They focused on things like building an Analog Clock, stripping vowels, or generating search suggestions, which I found surprising given the company's noted UI development issues. These challenges seemed more about conforming to a specific coding ideology than testing practical developer skills. I observed that most developers were more interested in showing off than producing. By the end, I felt I wouldn't fit in with their approach. They informed me the next day that they passed on me, which wasn't a surprise. I learned that it's not just about resume skills but also about enduring questionable challenges. I do like the company, people, and location, and would give them a thumbs up overall. My advice is to use challenges more relevant to the product, as cliché coding challenges are insulting and waste time.

After I passed their phone screen, I was invited for an onsite interview to meet three interviewers. Each interview lasted for an hour. I'm not quite sure what my first interviewer was aiming for. He asked one question and didn't even give me a chance to finish it. He just kept talking about how a piece of C++ code could map to N machine cycles in a virtualized environment. I couldn't tell if he was evaluating me or just showing off his knowledge. The second interviewer came in after an hour, saw what was happening, and had to leave because he was out of time. The third interviewer asked me an algorithm question, and that concluded the interview.

I applied through their website, and the recruiter contacted me for an initial phone call. After a few weeks, I had another phone interview with the hiring manager, which was pretty standard. Then, I was invited for an onsite interview. It was supposed to be three 45-minute 1:1s, but they added two more people on the same day to speed things up. The product managers seemed sharp and focused on getting things done quickly, typical of a fast-paced startup. It seemed like the design role here is more about execution than strategy right now. I was a bit disappointed because they promised to get back to me quickly due to another offer I had, but they didn't meet that timeline. I had to rearrange my schedule for this interview, sacrificing work time, and hoped for a bit more consideration.