I applied online. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Alpaca in Apr 2025
Interview
Applied online in July 2024. Received first availability request in December, eventually invited for an interview in April of 2025 after few more requests.
1. First interview: screening with a recruiter.
2. Second interview: tech director, past experience and some quiz knowledge.
3. Take home task.
4. After few followups, an additional 15 minutes interview with a manager.
5. Multiple followups from my side, eventually resulting with an interview with the team. Standard SD (medium level) + GO/PostgreSQL trivia.
6. Follow up interview with a recruiter.
7. Interview with the CTO.
Overall, the process took one year. There were few hiccups happening on the way:
1. Extreme length of each step - 8 months to start with interviews and another 4 to complete.
2. Original position I applied to got closed during followups, resulting in automatic rejection letter sent to me, confusing me on whether the process is still going.
3. Recruiter have not recognized me between initial and follow up meetings scheduled with them.
4. One of the interviews scheduled with the team was not delivered to my mailbox, resulting in a missed interview - which was quickly rescheduled.
Among the pluses I can comment on:
1. All the technical members of the team have been extremely pleasant to speak with and showed exactly traits I value in teammates and managers.
2. Take home task was challenging and interesting to work on.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Goroutines questions, how to detect a race, how the data is saved in memory. Basic Postgres questions - types of keys, data types for primary keys, other. On a more challenging interview - explain an SQL statement, what it does. Some general kubernetes questions about pods, deployments,
I applied online. I interviewed at Alpaca (Toronto, ON) in Mar 2026
Interview
Recruiter Screen -> Take Home Test -> Hiring Manager Screen -> System Design & General Questions cutting across SQL, OOP and Language of Choice -> CTO Screen (vibe check, questions like what is the closest you have been to dying?).
- Didn't hear back from them, from other reviews it appears this is quite common.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- Take Home Test is the famous 'Hungarian Lottery', you can look it up.
I applied online. I interviewed at Alpaca in Jan 2026
Interview
The interview process consisted of an initial screening call with the recruiter, followed by a 45-minute conversation with the hiring manager focused on my background and motivations. After that, I completed two additional rounds: one technical interview centered on React and another focused on system design.
After completing all stages, I never received any follow-up or decision. No rejection, no feedback, no response to outreach. Being ghosted after investing significant time and preparation is highly unprofessional and reflects poorly on the company’s hiring process.
I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Alpaca (Budapest)
Interview
Offer was made after a few rounds of interview process. Met with the hiring manager, and a technical round, and then a meeting with the CTO and Co-founder. Know your basics and have good stories to showcase your skills and experience.
