Speechify Interview Questions
& Process

After submitting my resume and application, I was sent an email for a coding challenge. I received access to a repository containing an Android project. This project already had a model and repository layer set up, which provided a list of books and individual book details by ID. My task was to build a screen to display this list of books, allowing users to filter them and view details when clicked. I used MVVM with Jetpack Compose and its navigation, exposing StateFlows for screen states. Despite having only 60 minutes, I was rejected. They mentioned they liked my skills and wanted to offer another chance, citing their use of AI and an assessment they built around AI in the role, which I found unprofessional.

To apply, you need to provide a lot of detail on a tough project you worked on, plus your CV. They don't even look at your application with automation because you immediately get an email to set up a technical challenge. This is the first red flag. The second red flag is that the challenge is a 90-minute, video-recorded task done without a live person. The challenge itself is also pretty hard. I finished it with no errors and all tests passed, showing I used debugging tools well and had good expertise. The third red flag is that after 4 days, I got a standard rejection email saying no feedback could be given. I was confused how I could be rejected for the next stage with my experience and a great technical exercise, especially since this company seems to have tons of job openings. I can only guess they don't want to pay what they advertise and are looking for cheaper labor from other countries (I'm in London). I really think you shouldn't waste your time here.

So the interview process had two parts, both were technical coding interviews. First was a 50-minute live SwiftUI Project, like a take-home but done live with camera on. The task was to build a basic SwiftUI app with navigation, lists, search, state management, and simple UI, only using SwiftUI and basic Combine, no UIKit. It was pretty much just enough time to finish. The second interview was a 90-minute Debugging & Async Challenge. A senior dev watched as I worked on an existing project. I had to find and fix bugs, memory leaks, and UI problems. Also, implement an async operation in three ways: callbacks, Combine, and async/await, making sure to have tests. Plus, fix a login bug. These tasks were separate, so I could do them in any order. They kept track of time and updated me every 30 mins. Code quality was key, though some of the Combine examples felt a bit tricky or weird. Even though I finished all the tasks during the interview, they let me have two extra days to clean up my code and send it back. Overall, it was a well-structured and tough technical process, especially the Combine parts. They were clear about the time limits, 50 mins for the first and 90 for the second. It was a bummer they didn't give any feedback after I got rejected, and the HR replies were sometimes slow or not quite consistent, even though they were polite.

So, first I had this HR chat, a quick screen. Then came a big coding challenge, like 90 minutes. It was all about React and TypeScript, set up in a GitHub repo, kind of like a real startup situation where you have to figure things out. The main goal was to see how I solve problems. I wasn't allowed to use any AI coding tools or extra libraries, just pure React/TypeScript and DOM stuff. They really wanted to see if I could grasp the requirements, write good, clean code, include tests, and basically manage on my own.