The interview process is rather extensive, but looking back, it allows both applicant and company to assess for fit:
1) After submitting my application, I get a request to answer their pre-interview questionnaire a few hours later the same day. They also gave a 48-hour deadline to submit it. This was a bit odd to me personally because it seemed like they didn’t bother to read my resume or cover letter and instead opted to send a questionnaire. It was a 7-item questionnaire that asked me things like what was the last good book I read, what app/software gave me the most value professionally, among other things.
2) A few hours after sending in the questionnaire, I was pencilled in for a phone screen with HR. She was very personable and answered all the questions I had at that time, which I appreciated. I was also asked what my comfort level was with coding.
3) On the same day I had the phone screen, HR sent me a technical questionnaire to fill out (but it was open book so you could look things up). The 9-page questionnaire consisted of one page with 3 sample situations wherein you had to answer how you’d respond to the client. The other 8 pages were an assortment of technical questions spanning HTML, CSS, LESS, JavaScript, Bootstrap, and Foundation. No coding exercises, but definitely had to google a lot of the answers and check Stack Overflow. Should add that by this point I was starting to feel like they were expecting to find a coding superstar or at the very least be able to hire a front end developer for cheap (the posted salary was $40k). It seemed like the position was more of an IT support role than anything else.
4) Few days later, and I get an invite for a video interview with the hiring manager and their boss. Both were also very genial and easy going. Aside from standard questions asking about my experience, why I want to work there etc, they also asked about my experience with HTML/CSS and general comfort level. Again, for a customer support position.
5) Within the day, I was sent an invite for a 45-min panel interview with the rest of the CS team (so 5 people incl. hiring manager and boss) for a different day. Had to prepare a 15 min presentation covering several prompts which were sent by HR. Basically had to share my thoughts on what makes a good website, my answer to a couple more client case studies, and explain what I would add to AW’s culture.
A few hours after the panel interview, I was extended an offer which I had roughly 48 hours to respond to. I still had a few lingering questions however so I asked if I could speak to the hiring manager again and they acquiesced, which surprised me actually. Definitely have to give them props for their transparency and responsiveness, in an era where employers are all too happy to ghost you. The did eventually clarify that they weren’t necessarily looking for someone more technical and even cited that the person who was in the role previously having no tech experience.
As if to drive the point home further, they even claim that most of the support requests do not require coding experience and the more intensive requests are handled by a member of the support team who happens to come from a more technical (coding) background. Too little too late in my opinion. I also got the sense that as with any software product, it had its challenges from a support perspective and that there was alignment challenges between Sales/Support and Product teams (although they stress that this has been improving). That’s a red flag for me personally and I don’t care if someone says that compared to other SaaS companies, their product isn’t “as” bad from a support perspective. It’s always going to be challenging offering support to a product and defending it when it doesn’t meet a industry standard. At the very least, there has to be a level of confidence in the product itself.
The Glassdoor reviews were also a red flag for me – especially the one that detailed what occurred a few years back when they had a very broken product and promoted the consultant who helped them out to COO despite having only consulted for a few years prior himself.
Gave their offer a lot of thought and decided to turn it down on the basis of a number of factors, compensation being the biggest, and unaligned expectations being the other big one. Maybe this would be a good entry level position, but even for someone with less experience than myself (the boss said that I was “overqualified”), the eventual base salary offered was shockingly low.
I’m writing this in the hopes that future applicants know what they’re getting into. It seems like an ok company but it depends on how comfortable you are dealing with a lot of what I’ve mentioned.
