Sysdig Interview Questions
& Process

Had 6 interviews: first with a recruiter, then the hiring manager, then a team member, and also folks from other departments. These included people from sales, customer success, and engineering. They asked some STAR questions and also some technical questions. The interview with sales was the hardest and most technical, probably because the interviewer had decades of Linux experience from his time at Redhat.

It was a 4-step process: first a live coding session, then a system design and debugging round, followed by an architecture and distributed systems discussion, and finally a screening by a VP. What was good: the whole process was quick, with interviews spaced out one or two per week. The interviewers for the first two steps were open to giving feedback at the end, without any HR filtering. I'd rather get direct technical feedback than have an HR person relay it. What could have been better: the initial recruiter call was unpleasant; the person seemed disengaged despite reaching out to me. Another recruiter contacted me later and repeatedly asked about my visa status, even after I clarified I didn't need assistance. Steps 2 and 3 felt very similar, both involving system design problems with overlapping concepts. The interviewer for step 3 didn't provide feedback, unlike the others, which would have been helpful even if it was negative.

This was truly the worst interview process I have ever experienced. I spoke with a Recruiter who assured me I was a top candidate and would be moved forward, with an email to follow from the coordinator. However, the coordinator didn't contact me for three weeks. When I tried to reschedule, neither the recruiter nor the coordinator responded. My interview was a no-show on their end, yet I received a generic rejection stating they decided to go in a different direction, despite them no-showing my interview. With five years in recruiting, this stands out as the worst process I've encountered.

The interview process was quite long, starting with an initial call from the recruiter. This was followed by a call with the Director. Then there was Loop 1, which included interviews with a front-end engineer, a back-end engineer, and an Engineering Manager. Loop 2 involved a Product Manager, a Database Administrator, and a Systems Administrator. The final loop consisted of interviews with the recruiter, the VP of Engineering, and the Director of Engineering. I made a significant mistake during one of the interviews, which unfortunately resulted in not getting an offer. However, the recruiter provided helpful feedback afterward, which was very useful for future interviews. Overall, everyone was very nice, and the process was generally fine.