Tiger Data Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process with TigerData was super clear and organized, making it easy to navigate. They kept me in the loop all the way, and I always knew what to expect for the job and the interview steps. I had chats with the hiring manager and two team folks. One part was a technical interview, and another was a behavioral one. The interviews were really engaging and well-managed. The interviewers were upfront about what the team does, the tough stuff they're dealing with, and what success looks like. They even sent over useful info and background stuff beforehand, which made the interviews feel like we were both prepared and it was a good use of time. The last interview was with the Chief People Officer, and they gave me more insights into the company's plans, its culture, and where it's headed. All in all, it was a smooth, open, and professional experience. The transparency throughout the process really helped me figure things out, and the team's vibe was genuinely positive, making the job seem really appealing.

The hiring process at this company was really poorly managed and a big waste of time. I spent over an hour with HR and then another hour with two engineers, but it all felt like it was going nowhere because they didn't seem coordinated or have a clear plan. They even scheduled a fourth interview with two people, but then cancelled it less than 20 minutes before it was supposed to happen. No one followed up, and I had to reach out myself to ask about the interview they had confirmed. Throughout this, the interview structure and what they expected kept changing without any explanation. After three interviews where I got positive feedback, I got a generic rejection email with no reason and no effort from them to communicate properly. Their recruitment is disorganized, unclear, and unprofessional. They waste everyone's time, which hurts their employer brand and makes it hard to see them as a serious company. I wouldn't recommend their hiring process.

So, I got a message from a recruiter first, and then went through three rounds of interviews. But then they told me the role was put on hold because of a hiring freeze. After a few weeks, they contacted me again to restart the process. I did another two to three rounds. The last one was with the Chief People Officer, who seemed really checked out and dismissive. They also made me do this timed "exercise" where I had to sort data in six minutes, and they wouldn't even let me use copy/paste. It felt like a really weird and unrealistic task that didn't match the job. This whole thing, especially for a 6-month contract, felt really messy, too long, and kind of rude to candidates. Just a heads up, think carefully if you want to put your time into this.

I was given a take-home assignment to implement a Postgres user-defined aggregate for median calculation. I put in a lot of effort, spending almost a full week including my weekend, which meant less family time and taking sick days from my current job. This was challenging as I had no prior experience with postgres extensions. I not only completed the assignment but also went beyond the requirements with all unit tests passing. After submitting, they scheduled a follow-up interview but didn't discuss my solution. Instead, they asked about query optimization, despite me mentioning I'm not a database engineer and it being evident from my CV. I did my best to answer. When I questioned why they weren't asking about my implementation, they said it was working so no need. They ultimately rejected me, likely due to my limited db-engineering experience, which makes the extensive assignment feel like a waste of time.