XANT Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

So, a recruiter hit me up on LinkedIn and after some back and forth, I had two phone chats. First one was with the recruiter, just a basic check. Second was with a Dev team lead. Then they had me come in for in-person interviews with three different team leads, supposed to be about three hours total. I chatted with the first guy for about 45 minutes about my current job and experience, plus what his team does and their tech. Then I met the second team lead, who was actually the same guy from the phone interview. We had a good chat, and I felt like his team would be a good fit. The third interviewer had to bail for a meeting, so I didn't get to meet him, but they said the first two interviews were enough. Annoying, but whatever. A few days later, the recruiter called and said they liked me and wanted to hire me, but they re-evaluated their numbers and decided not to add more developers to that specific team. Again, kinda frustrating since they reached out to me, but I get it.

I first met with a recruiter at my University's Career Fair for a quick intro and resume drop. She then called me for a phone screen later that week to check for culture fit. After that, she set up an in-person interview for that same afternoon. She emailed directions and asked me to complete a short personality test. When I got to the office, the recruiter explained I'd be meeting an engineering person, taking a programming quiz, and touring the facilities. The engineer was running late, so we toured the building first. After waiting a bit longer, I took the programming test, which covered PHP syntax, class design, and general programming concepts, mostly multiple choice. Finally, the engineer interviewed me briefly about my resume and experience, seeming quite distracted. The next day, the recruiter scheduled more interviews for the following week. These went much smoother. I had two interviews with engineering management that focused on behavioral questions and my work history. I also met with the hiring committee, though I don't recall specifics, and the CEO. The CEO interview was fast-paced with quick, potentially tricky questions, as the recruiter warned. They extended an offer that was lower than I expected, so I shared research on fair wages. The recruiter said she'd look into it, but I had already received a much better offer elsewhere and accepted that. I let the recruiter know, and she mentioned she'd told the hiring committee I might get better offers, but they wanted to proceed anyway.

I was contacted by a 3rd party recruiter and agreed to let them submit my resume. Since I live out of state, all interviews were conducted over the phone or via Skype. The process started with an HR screen, followed by six Skype calls over six weeks with various individuals, all of which were one-on-one. I spoke with the product manager, a development director, had a tech knowledge interview, another senior director, and the CTO. Unfortunately, many of the interviewers were late, canceled last minute, or didn't show up at all without notice. It seems they are very busy, and Skype interviews with out-of-state candidates are low priority. If something more important comes up, their culture is to cancel or no-show the candidate. This happened on three of the six Skype calls. After six weeks of interviews, I had a scheduled call with a talent acquisition director to discuss a job offer, but that was also canceled last minute. This sealed the deal for me, and I should have withdrawn much earlier.