Sierra Club Senior Front End Web Developer Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Sierra Club (San Francisco, CA) in April 2012.

Interview

The interview process took place over quite an extended time-frame. After the initial phone screen, I was given an exercise to complete (a little strange in terms of design...but OK), which took roughly a couple hours. Following that, about a week later, was a second phone interview, and then a couple weeks after that a face-to-face interview in the office, first with a panel and then with the manager and the director. And then finally there was a 2 week waiting period before hearing the results. Not once did I have any hesitation about the place, the job, or any of the several people with whom I spoke--all were completely cordial and professional. And combined with the fact that I particularly respect and appreciate what the Sierra Club does, I very likely would have taken the job had it been offered to me--assuming the salary had been adequate (see previous interview writeup).

Furthermore, even though they did not end up making me an offer, I would have still given the experience a positive rating if it weren't for one aspect. All along the process from beginning to end, whenever Drupal was mentioned I clearly stated that, though I had worked with other CMS's, I had not worked with that particular CMS before (although I assured them I would do all I could to come up to speed prior to starting if selected-- and they always said 'no problem'--including at the in-office interview; in fact they consistently seemed very positive about my suitability for the position. So when they informed me 2 weeks later that they had offered the job to someone else and I asked what took me out of the running, I suppose it was sort of a surprise and yet not a surprise that they said...Drupal! Seems to me it would have saved a good deal of time for all involved if they had first interviewed only those candidates with prior Drupal experience before moving on to other candidates such as myself.

So I have to say the way it was handled was disappointing given the long tradition of Sierra Club membership in my family--as a matter of fact, Ansel Adams was a good friend of my father (true story!).

Interview Questions