An online coding interview then they waved the second phone interview and went to on site. At onsite, except for one interview which was about coding, the rest were basically asking the same question over and over again and they call it "System Design". Design a system like Netflix, design a system like Yahoo stocks, design a system that collects sensor data. The interviewers were polite. One of them wanted to show how smart he is constantly bragging about how others steal his coding questions but the others were nice and modest. The coding problem was easy. The good part was the session with the hiring manager, during which I realized the company is treading on La La Land. Asked him how many clients they have and the answer was "we can't tell you now", which was very much telling. If you're a start-up that was founded 8 years ago, after so many rounds of funding, you should be yelling at the top of your lungs how many customers you have, not "can't tell you now but we have a 'healthy' number of clients".

Phone screen and then onsite. Look for the red flags a developer tries to prove how smart he is just because he might have studied the problem he is asking you of and showing off on the knowledge he has on that. Also look for signs when the interviewer is argumentative and blocking off your attempt to answer and tells you that your answer is right but you actually don't know things. Also, ask interviewer some questions on what is the type of work they run in to day to day and see how comfortable they are answering that. If they try to cut that short and hang up the call thats another red flag that that team has a different reality vs what they are trying to test you on. Also, look at where the focus is of the interviewer whether to nail everything as per his expectation (as he might have mastered a problem and prepared to grill the interviewee on accumulated knowledge apriori) or a broad based focus whether the interviewee can come up with approaches to solve a problem and appreciate the breadth in the thought process on the given problem. These red flags go along way in communicating the kind of traits in the the company's culture very early on that you must avoid. Remember, interviewing is a 2-way street. If you encounter jerks call it out and let the recruiter know and pass on the feedback because they are not only wasting company's time but also the interviewee's time as well.