Trove Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process included a phone screen, a hiring manager interview, a take-home assignment, and then a virtual on-site with three interviews, followed by an interview with the head of data. The process was very organized and the people were kind. Interviewers were prepared and engaged. The team has diverse experience and values data. The take-home assignment was relevant and led to follow-up questions. On the downside, it's a startup, so there were some scrappy elements like week-to-week planning, difficulty with long-term goals, and a need to 'wear a lot of hats'. They are just starting A/B tests, and non-technical stakeholders aren't using automated solutions. It was unclear how they'd handle increased data requests as they onboard more companies. There have also been recent layoffs/restructuring and it seems like there are many managers for a small data team. Ultimately, it wasn't a fit for me, but if you like a true startup vibe, it sounds great.

The interview process included a phone screen, a call with the hiring manager, and a take-home assignment. Unfortunately, the take-home assignment was deemed not up to standard, despite achieving less than 1% error and demonstrating a 100K lift in results. When inquiring about the specific reasons for rejection, I was ghosted. This leads me to suspect either a lack of sufficient data science expertise to evaluate the code or that hiring me was never the intention. Having completed numerous take-home assignments and technical interviews, I'm familiar with areas for improvement, but this situation felt unusual. The vague feedback of 'not meeting expectations,' especially with unclear expectations and no proper explanation, suggests an underhanded approach. The hiring manager's evasiveness regarding next steps further fueled this suspicion. It appears the company may be more interested in acquiring ideas from applicants than in genuine hiring. This experience makes me glad I won't be working there.

Trove has a great mission, but the interviews left a lot to be desired. The screening was like a speed round, it was clear the recruiter has a lot on their plate, and is just trying to get through as many as possible. After many awkward miscommunications and re-schedulings, I interviewed with the hiring manager. Both interviews felt like the trove representatives were distracted. The lack of organization around the whole process was surprising. Ultimately, they felt it was adequate to send an automated rejection. If someone takes time out of their schedule for multiple interviews, the least you could do is a short personal written rejection. Then you wouldn't need the "spam folder" excuse.

First, I had a phone screen with a recruiter to talk about the job and the company. After that, I had a chat with the hiring manager. He asked me about OOP principles and my past projects. I didn't go any further, but the process usually includes a coding challenge, an onsite interview, and then an offer.