Appboy interview was my first interview experience, especially in the US (I was a co-founder in my last company).
I read Glassdoors reviews and feedbacks and tried to outline how does the interview in general work. I wasn't sure until I went through few. I believe people over Glassdoor are the way to aggressive and frustrated about this company. That's why I want to share my positive experience.
Overall, the interview started with a recruiter call. The recruiter was impressive and friendly.
Upon scheduling for the second round, I received an online code challenge via Codepad.
An engineer from Appboy was reviewing and explaining the problem. I enjoyed, and I believe I did quite well. The engineer was bit shy, however, a fantastic and energized person.
Upon receiving the feedback, Appboy invited for the final round. It was 3 hours long interview.
Started with a designing challenge, especially how, I would design a solution for the specified problem. I was quite hesitant as being the first timer. However, I assume, I did quite well.
Then we had an hour long break for lunch. One of the software engineers invited me to join her. It was awesome, they have catered food and lots of great goodies for the employees. We had lots of discussion over the food and an hour passed too fast.
Then got back to the meeting room for the 2nd round. It started with a programming challenge. The problem was simple, however, a little twisty.
As I have understood, that was the intended goal. Just to see how you can scratch out a solution. Not because you know particular data structure, algorithm or so. You only have to keep yourself calm and think through.
I did badly. I was freaking out. It was my first-time experience with this kind of interview. I couldn't keep myself calm and think through. However, one mistake I can imagine now. I was trying to have a correct code than having the pseudo code ready.
Regardless, I learned my lesson and thanks to the interviewer, she was excellent and patient and helped me to stay on track. However, I failed on that.
Then the last round met the VP of Engineering. He is an excellent person as well. He explained how Appboy works and so on. Also answered my questions. We also spoke about lots other topics as well.
Overall, my first interview experience wasn't bad. It ended up being sad. However, I have seen my weakness, and I know what I need to do to prepare for the next.
Thanks Appboy for having me and letting me learn my weakness.