Retrofit interview questions

The whole process has been going on for more than 6 months. First of all, I have to say that this was THE most disorganized interview process I had ever gone through. I applied in January and a recruiter suddenly called in April and asked why I applied for the role. After a few questions, I was told that I would be contacted soon. Then after continuous follow-ups from my side, I was scheduled an interview with the CTO who asked me to come directly to his office. The interview went well. There was disorganization in conducting that interview as well. They scheduled a 30-minute interview and had me stay there and talk with another person ( a developer, I guess) in the team for another 30 minutes. He seemed uninterested in asking the questions. I was asked to send some samples and I obliged (SQL samples and analytics projects that I have done). I was asked to talk with another person who was not associated with the organization, an ex-employee (this was peculiar). It was scheduled for 30 minutes and it went on for 45 minutes. I thought this interview would be technical in nature, but it wasn't. Just a general overview of the things in my resume. I was told that the HR would be reaching out within a week with a decision. I last interviewed in May and it is going to be July in a few days. Even after continuous follow-ups, there have been no replies from the CTO. My advice to candidates who want to apply for jobs here, please don't. Don't waste your time. From the tumultuous interview process, I could learn that this is an organization that revolves around disorientation and opaqueness. To sum up, if courteousness is a place, this company and its CTO are traveling far away from it at a brisk pace. After going to the company and meeting some of the employees and having attended a follow-up 'technical' interview, as a candidate, you at least expect a courteous generic 'no-reply' mail stating that you have not been selected. An obtuse organization which would not sustain if it is going to continue this interview process. No technical evaluation, no fit evaluation, no nothing. I read another post, where a person faced the same turmoil as I did. Hence, this is not an anomaly. Hopefully, the CEO reads this and takes necessary action or the company is going to plummet.

Applied online. almost a full month after, HR coordinator calls, slightly apologized for the late response, and asked if I am still interested. I said yes, and we went over my resume. typical HR screening. I was introduced to the CTO. Second interview, I talked with the CTO. Talked about my experience in relevance to their technology stack (R, Scala). Went pretty well. Third interview, I talked with VP of Operations. Talked about Retrofit's business needs and why they are hiring and how I can help with their internal analytics dashboard to prove business value. Pretty standard business need. Very friendly conversation. Fourth interview is when it got weird. I was introduced to talk to their former head of researcher / sr data scientist. He doesn't seem to officially work at Retrofit anymore but says he is a consultant (?) for them. He seemed to not want to discuss his standing with Retrofit and mumbled over the details. Very shady. Talked about Retrofit's former research project regarding their product and had highly technical discussion about statistical analysis. A bit unconventional but it was interesting. After almost 3 months of interacting with them, CTO tells me that they think I am not ready to leave my current position, and they want to hold off my meeting with the CEO. To me this was highly unusual. Do they expect all their candidates to be ready to quit their job immediately? Do all candidates need to be desperate to leave their current jobs? Do they only hire people without job? Given that the process took almost 3 months, this seemed like a tall order (even for an employer who arguably is in all their rights to do what they want). I was definitely puzzled. I responded firmly that holding off a conversation because prospective candidate doesn't seem to be "ready to leave" his position is nonsensical. I reiterated that if the offer is right, I can and will leave my current job (which should be true for all candidates without saying). I looked forward to asking the CEO about their business model and what I would need to do to solve their needs. They did not like this at all, and two days later I got a generic and formulaic "Sorry. We have moved on to other candidates" type letter. After 3 months and 4 interviews, including their former/current(?) employee/consultant! Sure I understand that it is in their right to do whatever they want but is this how they treat all of their candidates? Medium experience because the quality of the discussion with the CTO, VP, and tech consultant(?) was pretty high, but something seems very shady. Advice for Retrofit: Your interview is way too easy. Not even a single coding test? If all your engineers get hired like this, I have serious doubt regarding the quality of your code. Advice for Candidates: Pretend that you hate your current job and joining Retrofit is gift from the heavens.