I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Revolut (Lisbon, Lisbon District) in Apr 2024
Interview
The first interviewer hinted that preparing for the technical interview would be very challenging, like getting ready for a space mission. But when it came to the actual technical interview, the task was surprisingly simple, more like a basic school project.
Even though you showed deep knowledge, coded a perfect solution, followed good coding practices, thoroughly tested your code for all scenarios, and paid careful attention to concurrency issues, the technical recruiter still found a petty reason to reject you—specifically, they thought you made generating a random string too complicated.
What made it more frustrating was that whenever you asked if you were on the right track or if your approach was what they were looking for, the recruiter always responded positively, which didn't really provide useful feedback. Additionally, the recruiter would sometimes roll their eyes when your answer didn't meet their expectations.
The technical recruiter also seemed unhappy or disinterested, which made them appear insensitive. This makes me question the company's hiring process and what it says about their work environment. It's strange that a company known for high standards doesn't even use basic quality checks like having someone else review decisions. And it doesn't make sense to conduct technical interviews one-on-one.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement a URL shortener. General questions about how a HashMap works.
HR -> Live coding -> Tech -> System design
Overall the before starting the recruitment process it's worth mastering concurrency, DB(especially PostgresSQL), and transaction management. Company seems to be working mostly with Java, Kotlin and a little with Scala
I got contacted by a recruiter. As a first step, I had a call with another recruiter. He was also asking technical questions, but it felt strange. (A bit like talking to a wall.)
I was rejected with a generic message stating that I was not "aligned with the position". This is weird as it was inbound and based on my profile. No feedback, of course.
Waste of time.
Very kind. The questions weren’t easy, but with knowledge of database configurations, concurrency, locks, and some practical experience, you are able to answer them clearly, confidently, and effectively overall. It was good time.