Whalar Backend Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

First, you'll have an initial chat with the recruiter. It's a chill conversation where you'll go over your tech stack and some company details. After that, you'll meet with some lead developers. This part is technical, and you'll dive into your experiences, talk about architecture, and discuss how familiar you are with specific technologies.

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.