Skillshare Interview Questions
& Process

It was a pretty standard interview process, and the team members were lovely. Communication was terrible though, and I was ghosted. It started with a 30-minute manager phone interview, then a 45-minute "values" interview with a recruiting manager. After that, I followed up with the hiring manager who said I'd be moving forward to a 45-minute call with her and their General Counsel. I sent my availability and followed up three times over the past few weeks, but still haven't heard back or received a rejection. I get the team is stretched, but this experience was frustrating and confusing since I was moved forward. Ghosting candidates is not right.

I applied online, and then recruiting reached out for a phone screen. It was supposed to be 30 minutes, but it ended up being 45 minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't move forward in the process. They have a policy of no salary negotiation, which I found a bit unusual, but I could sort of understand the basic reason for it. What was really strange, though, was right after they told me about this policy, they immediately started asking me what my salary expectations were. It felt like they were trying to pin me down to a number very early in the process. The pressure they applied was really jarring. The whole recruiting screen was just odd in general. Usually, these calls are just to gauge experience and see if there's a match, but this felt like an unnecessarily detailed review of all my past jobs, even ones that weren't relevant. It was more of a deep dive than a typical recruiting screen. Because so much time was spent on these random deep dives, I barely had any time left to ask my own questions, which was also a turn-off. I can't speak to the quality of the data or engineering teams, but their recruiting process and team are very peculiar. I'm not a fan at all.

It began with a chat with the hiring manager, where I talked about myself and learned about the company. Then, I had an interview with the engineering manager, which was one of the best technical discussions I've had in any hiring process. After that, there was a technical test to do at home in an hour. This wasn't a complicated coding challenge, but more of a task with good documentation. All the scenarios were covered by tests, and the dependencies were provided as abstractions. The test is fair and shows how well a candidate can read and understand requirements and technical documentation, and how well they write and design code. Other interviews were scheduled, but unfortunately, we parted ways, and I didn't finish the process.

I don't normally leave reviews, but my interview experience at Skillshare was so good it really shook me. They really focused on if I had the right skills AND understood my personal values and motivations. I care a lot about inclusion and belonging, and I was super impressed with how thoughtful everyone's answers were. It was clear Skillshare is trying to build a place where you can be yourself. The process showed how much care they put into building teams: I had a chat with my recruiting partner (who felt more like a partner and advocate for me), the hiring manager, gave a presentation, and had what felt like on-sites with key people. I was especially touched by the women in marketing leadership; as a woc, I don't often see people I can relate to in those roles. I decided not to move forward because I wanted to stay in an industry that fit my personal interests, but it was a really hard choice. Skillshare is one of the few places where I felt I wouldn't have to compromise my values to succeed. I'd feel privileged to work with this team.