I applied online. I interviewed at Toptal (Atlanta, GA)
Interview
I didn’t get past the back forth emailing process but the individual was pretty cold and standoffish in tone and there’s a lot of disclaimers about “if you don’t answer within 2 days we will close your application”. I was also told I had a duplicate account which I don’t remember making but was warned I could be “disqualified” for creating duplicates.
They require 2 years of automation experience to even be considered.
All in all, I see where the negative reviews are originating. The culture seems very cold, assuming, and toxic and I have had much better interviewing processes and eventual job offers at other companies who are employee oriented.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Toptal in Apr 2022
Interview
first interview was easy
second part was a 90 minutes or 4 hours exam, very difficult, asking difficult code and algorithm questions. I don't get it why they ask for QA if they will ask you to do code? Also, why reinvent the wheel and do the solutions from scratch in 5 minutes when you only could do it if you are a genius or have the question memorized, otherwise you review in StackOverflow forums or so, etc
The questions of theory were very ambiguous.
I find incoherent they want to pay you as QA and test you as software engineer. If I wanted to do algorithm and programming I had applied directly to software engineer job, don't you think? not a QA job where they pay you 1/5
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
first interview were culture fit questions, more like a conversation than interrogation
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Toptal (Vancouver, BC) in Aug 2021
Interview
A recruiter from the company, seemingly from south africa, sent an email to setup an interview with me. The scheduler was suggesting times between 12am-6am in the morning. I signed up for 12.30 am slot seeing no other way. I did send an email a day before and half an hour before the actual interview. She did not reply. She did not show up at the scheduled time either - had to stay up until 1am for this. Sent an email afterwards to let her know. She has yet to reply to any of my emails. Also forwarded emails to a tech manager and and an HR person. Neither of them have replied to my emails informing them of this no show and to respond to why that was the case. Decidedly, I was not encouraged to complete their online test either. Waste of time really.
Hindsight: I should have listened to the folks who have already written comments about not wasting time trying to get into this company. A lot of big words about commitment and consistency on their website - did not see any of that.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Difficult because had to sign up for a 12.30am time slot and the interviewer did not show up or reply to my several emails.
Declined offer because I'm not interested in working for a company who cannot respect their interviewees.
