I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Kintsugi (CA) in Oct 2025
Interview
The interview process was profoundly mismanaged and ultimately a complete waste of time and energy. I applied for the role and was scheduled for an initial screening/technical interview with the engineering manager. After that, I was pushed into another hour-long technical interview.
Then? radio silence. I followed up multiple times and received no response. Naturally, I assumed I’d been rejected and moved on.
Nearly a month later, I was contacted again by the HR Coordinator, asking me to schedule another interview. I rearranged my schedule on extremely short notice and even took the call at 2:30 AM IST because I was told the team would otherwise be unavailable until January. During that call, I clarified that I had already completed two rounds and explicitly asked whether this was a reconsideration or a continuation. I was assured it was a continuation and that I now had two more technical interviews plus a final signoff ahead.
I was genuinely interested in the role, so I agreed. On the day of the scheduled interview, however, no one joined the meeting bridge. I sent polite reminders to both the HR Coordinator and the interviewer with no response. Instead, 12 hours later I received a perfunctory, low effort rejection with zero acknowledgment of the missed interview or the multiple communication failures leading up to it.
This level of disorganization and disregard for candidates is unacceptable. It reflects a serious lack of professionalism and basic respect for people’s time.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Have you ever worked in a startup? What has that experience been like?