TCGplayer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process began with a recruiter call, followed by a call with the hiring manager, then a "Coding Assessment" call, and finally a call with the VP. The hiring manager interview was good; we talked about the team and their work, and my DevOps experience related to the role. Things changed during the "Coding Assessment" call. I expected a Data Structure and Algorithms coding assessment, but it turned out to be a Configuration Assessment using Terraform, Ansible, Chef, or Puppet, which aren't coding languages. The interviewer, who had only been at the company for 5 months and wasn't even a senior person, admitted they were focused on Terraform because they were tired of answering developer questions and wanted someone else to handle that part of the job. This interviewer wasn't even doing the job of the role being interviewed for and was solely focused on Identity, wanting to leave that part of the work ASAP. Their priorities didn't align with the hiring manager's, who was interested in Pipelines, general Software Engineering skills to support developers, and automation. This was the end of the process. I regret not reading the previous review, which mentioned this position being reposted multiple times without success.

The interview process was really long, and honestly, four interviews felt like too many, especially when they expected us to do them during work hours. It started with a phone call, then a one-on-one chat, followed by this weird cultural fit interview, and then one more interview. The questions weren't particularly tough, and everyone seemed nice enough. The cultural interview was awkward, though; the three interviewers didn't seem engaged and just read from a script, asking questions that didn't feel relevant to anything. Even though the interviews seemed to go well, I never got a rejection or an offer after the final one, and my follow-up email was ignored, which seems to be a common issue based on other reviews. It feels like they might be using interviews to get free ideas, which is bad practice, and at least they should send a rejection. It's also odd for a company that talks a lot about diversity and inclusion to have a one-hour panel judge if they 'like' you enough for the job, especially when the questions weren't about company culture.

I interviewed for a recruiting coordinator role in the summer. It began with a screening call with the hiring manager, which was easy and pleasant. Even though the pay was low ($20/hr), there seemed to be room for advancement, so I wanted to continue. I'm definitely qualified for this job (maybe even overqualified, but I'm relocating and heard good things about the company, so I proceeded). Then came a 'cultural interview' which was really strange. It was supposed to be with 3 associates from different parts of the business, but I thought I'd meet them individually. Instead, all 3 interviewed me at once. Without any intro, they took turns asking the most bizarre questions (like 'if you had a superpower, what would it be?' or 'what's the most interesting thing you read this past week?'). This rapid-fire questioning lasted 30 minutes. The questions seemed random and it felt like an interrogation. This is not a good way to interview or get to know someone. It was awkward, and I couldn't connect with any of them. It's unclear how these questions assess cultural fit. I suggest reviewing your hiring methods. I didn't get an offer and wouldn't have accepted it anyway.

The interview process started with a 15-20 minute phone screening, which was pretty standard. After that, there was a remote culture interview via Zoom with three interviewers. I wasn't sure how they were chosen or if they were in my direct reporting line. The final stage was an in-person interview at the HQ, where I met the people I would be working with. We mostly discussed work approaches and ideas, and it felt more like a collaborative discussion and personal assessment rather than a back-and-forth question-and-answer session.