Shapeways Interview Questions
& Process

This was a 30-minute phone screen that I found on a popular dev hiring site. They talked a lot about their needs and the role itself, so there wasn't really any time for me to ask questions. It was clear they're looking for someone with 5+ years of PHP experience, but also 3+ years of NodeJS and full-stack skills to make onboarding smoother and allow for future flexibility. They were very upfront about what they wanted and didn't give much info when I asked about turnover or if their recent angel funding would mean they'd hire more people after a long time with no hiring. It sounds like their PHP tech from 5+ years ago is starting to shift towards NodeJS services, so they need someone senior who knows both to handle the migration solo. They seem to have a small team (maybe 2-3 engineers) for the immediate tasks, even though they have many more people elsewhere.

It was pretty standard, except for getting to the actual office. When I got there, someone greeted me and offered me water. I waited about 5-10 minutes, then two people from the department I might work in interviewed me. They asked me general questions for about 15 minutes. Then I waited another 5 minutes before a higher-up interviewed me alone. It was a bit annoying because the person I was supposed to meet had already left, so this other person interviewed me instead. This guy didn't seem like an interviewer, he mostly just looked at my resume and I had to prompt him to ask questions. After a few minutes of that, he showed me around the factory/offices and answered my questions. They said I'd hear back in 2-3 days, but it took a bit longer.

I applied online through LinkedIn. A recruiter contacted me within 48 hours, asked some follow-up questions via email, and then scheduled a phone screen. The phone screen was about an hour long, partly because we shared similar retail experiences. The recruiter was really approachable and answered all my questions, even about diversity and career growth. Next, an onsite interview was arranged at the NYC office with HR and potential colleagues. The following day, I had a Hangouts interview with the team in Eindhoven. About a week and a half later, there was a final round of interviews at the LIC office with another HR person and two future direct reports. Both of these meetings lasted over two hours and were enjoyable, showing a team that believed in their work. The week after, I had a final short meeting via Hangouts with the two direct reports again, as our previous meeting was cut short. Within hours of this last meeting, I received a job offer from the recruiter. The whole process was friendly, communicative, and considerate of my job search. While it took longer than expected, the timing worked out perfectly. I appreciated not having to repeat myself with different interviewers.

I had an initial phone screen with a PM, then got brought in the next week. I met with two PMs for an hour to discuss my background and brainstorm solutions for their sourcing issues. After that, I had two 30-minute chats with more PMs about my management style and the role. The process concluded with a 1.5-hour meeting with a Senior VP where I had to brainstorm software ideas for sourcing and tackle a estimation problem.