I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at The Motley Fool in Feb 2022
Interview
Was contacted by e-mail with a request for a phone interview. Phone interview went well, the HR rep was friendly, said based on my answers, I'd be a good fit for the role. She let me know their interview process was typically very drawn out, I said this was fine by me. Round 2 was a more technical discussion with members of the engineering team. Again, things went well, I seemed like a good fit, etc. They let me know they would be scheduling a round 3. I gave them my availability and we set a date. Then a few days later, I received an email informing me they were cancelling the position altogether. I understand things change, but it seems likely that decision was made prior to running a round 2 interview. Seemed very disorganized and unprofessional.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Which is more important: using the latest emerging technologies or sticking to tried and true?
Met with tech leads for two different teams. Chatted about my experience and what the teams do on a day to day. Talked through past projects and the issues the company is currently facing.
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at The Motley Fool (Alexandria, VA) in Dec 2019
Interview
The first step was to talk with a recruiter on the phone, it was a good informational call to learn more about the job and company and to make sure it's a culture fit both ways. The culture fit is important, because it's a lot different there than other companies (In a good way!).
After that it was time to speak with a hiring manager on the phone. We got more in depth about my career path and what lead me to where I am, and also more specifics about the team and job.
The next step an in person interview, but before that there was a coding project to be done. They're less about gotcha questions and whiteboarding problems in interviews and more about seeing what you can actually do. I was asked to spend 8-10 hours on a project that had a well defined set of guidelines. Unlike other companies which ask you to do a project and you can only hope it leads to a job, they pay you for your time regardless of if you get an offer or not. My in person interview process was split into three parts:
1 - Hiring manager + one team member: We went through my project talking through the decisions I made and areas I saw for improvement. Then we went through adding a small feature to the project in about 30 minutes. There was not a lot of pressure, and it was good to talk with them through some of the problems I was running into while working on it.
2 - Hiring manager + other developers on the team: Other developers on the team came in and they went around each asking me a few questions. Everyone asked good questions that were more about assessing me overall as a developer rather than testing obscure knowledge or facts I'd memorized.
3 - Business stakeholders: The last step of the in person interview was to meet with a few of the business stakeholders. The best I could describe it is as a getting to know you chat, they are the people who define the requirements of the software needed so they wanted to make sure I was a fit.
It took a little while to move through the whole process, but they want to make sure that they're hiring the right candidates. Though, I started the process shortly before Thanksgiving so the holidays were definitely part of the delay.
