Whalar Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process involved an HR screening, a team interview, a take-home assignment, and a VP interview. I was put forward as an internal referral by a former coworker. The whole experience was really straightforward and welcoming, and it felt like we were both evaluating each other, which I appreciated. They seemed as interested in my opinions on our mutual fit as they were in assessing my skills. From the initial contact to the offer, it took exactly 14 days.

The interview process was really well laid out and I had a good experience. First, there was an HR screening with a recruiter who was helpful and knew their stuff, asking some job-related questions. Then, I talked with engineering leads about technical stuff in detail, which was interesting. After that, I did a technical test for the role. The DevOps team then looked at my test and asked more technical questions, being supportive and giving good feedback. Finally, I interviewed with the CTO, who was pretty chill and easy to talk to. This last part was mostly behavioral questions, and it felt like a normal conversation. Everyone on the team was professional, friendly, and supportive the whole way through. It all went smoothly, and I got the offer in the end.

The interview journey had 4 parts. First, HR talked to me. She was professional and to the point. We covered my background, why I like this company, and some basic tech questions. It was clear and organized. Then, I met the CTO. He's super experienced. He started with some behavioral stuff to see my level, then asked logical and technical questions. It felt more like a chat about tech, which was nice. After that, I spoke with the Head of Backend. He really knows his stuff. His questions were more about how I design systems rather than just coding in a specific language. He wanted to understand my methods for building things, solving problems, and thinking critically. Lastly, there was a take-home assignment. They sent a PDF about a PHP project. I mainly use Java, so I asked if I could use that instead, and they were cool with it, mentioning they use PHP, Python, and Go. The whole process was smooth and quick. HR was great at keeping in touch. Both the CTO and Head of Backend were smart and didn't expect perfect answers. It was okay to skip questions if I wasn't sure.

So I interviewed at Whalar back in 2024. It started with a tech recruiter call, and honestly, it was kinda weird. No intros, no chat about my background, just straight into it. The recruiter was also on a personal phone call and put me on hold, which was unprofessional. Then, out of nowhere, I had to answer 16 technical questions they emailed me right then and there. I did most of them, skipped a couple. At one point, while explaining something, I asked if they were following, and they admitted they didn't have the answers themselves, which was confusing since they weren't technical. Got a generic rejection email a few days later. Really made me wonder about how they do interviews and why non-tech people are evaluating tech skills.