I debated whether or not I was going to write this review because up until the interview process unceremoniously ended, I had a really great experience. They seemed like a good company and all of the people I interacted with were lovely. However, I feel like the situation was so egregious, and I was so hurt by the whole thing, that maybe if someone sees this review they will avoid doing to someone else what they did to me.
The interview process was fantastic until it came to an abrupt and totally unexpected halt. I was really crushed by this experience, because I really wanted to work here, and they seemed to have really wanted me to work there as well.
My main contact all but promised me an offer, "pending your take-home assignment" and even offered to extend a "verbal offer". They knew I was applying elsewhere, and told me that they didn't want to lose me. Everyone I talked to was courteous, kind and helpful, and I didn't feel any pressure - until of course, the whole "we don't want to lose you"/"verbal offer" thing happened.
After that, I felt immense pressure to make sure my take-home assignment was perfect, spending more time on it than I should have because I was trying to go above and beyond (and also trying to work around the unclear prompt for the assignment - I could have and should have asked more questions, but it's always a bit awkward when you are relaying communication through a point person).
I submitted the project knowing it was not perfect but in a state I felt was fairly decent. Then I waited in suspense, until I got a phone call... telling me that "they found another with a higher level of expertise in the required technologies". Obviously at this point I'm shocked and confused, so I call my contact back, who tells me that the people who reviewed my project said it was "broken". I asked for more specifics, but my contact wasn't technical and wasn't aware of the details. She said she would try to get more information. I never heard back from anyone.
Of course I was hurt and embarrassed by the abrupt cancellation of my candidacy because of my take home project. I disagree with their assessment that my project was "completely broken" and that it "needed significant updates to get it to run". If anything, it needed a few small tweaks/updates to the documentation that they could have reached out and asked me about. Instead, that ended up being the entirety of the feedback I got on my project. Hardly helpful, especially when they go out of their way to tell you how beneficial the code challenge is for both the candidate and the employer. I deserved more after spending 4+ hours interviewing and a week's worth of evenings working on the take home assignment.