Grid.ai interview questions

I was contacted by a recruiter for Grid.ai. The whole process took about 3 weeks. Would have been 2 weeks but there was an emergency reason to reschedule that bled into the 3rd week. The job posting on the grid careers page does a phenomenal job at outlining a very accurate representation of what the process is like. I had an initial call with a recruiter, then did a technical phone screen. I had 4 final round interviews. Honestly, I thought I had failed some of the interviews and was not expecting an offer. Most companies that ask any kind of algorithmic or "whiteboard" interview questions will claim that they're looking for your communication and thought process, even if you don't have a fully working solution. The team at Grid actually means it. I didn't have optimal or fully implemented code for some of the technical questions, but received an unexpectedly strong offer, regardless. After receiving the offer, I scheduled a reverse interview loop with the CEO, my potential manager, and the team lead on the team I was considered for and prepared a list of questions for each interview. In talking to the CEO, we had a very sincere and genuine conversation where I asked questions about the negative Glassdoor reviews, I asked about old Hacker News comments that I found in my research, and asked about old Twitter threads that I had found and are referenced in negative reviews here on Glassdoor. The CEO admitted to making mistakes in some scenarios, and added insight and context to others. The CEO doesn't have a strong social media or online presence so getting their side of the story compared to people complaining online was very eye opening. The others that I talked to in my reverse interview panel were honest, thorough, and easy to have conversations with. The entire time, the people that I spoke with were transparent, easy to work with, and very passionate about building a spectacular team on all fronts. The interview process has to be one of the most well functioning and humanizing interview experiences I've ever been a part of. If you've read this far, you must be asking yourself: So why didn't this internet stranger accept the offer? Golden handcuffs. Grid is an earlier stage, younger company. My life's current priorities require a more liquid component right now. While Grid made an extremely competitive and well informed offer for their stage of company, being younger means that you take on the risk of a growing company and while Grid is setup for success, that payout is on a time scale that doesn't align with personal aspirations. If you're considering joining a company in the ML space, have a conversation with Grid. I know that I will be reaching out again in the future.