I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Lark
Interview
I met Jeff at a career fair for a coffee chat where we got to know each other and talked about whether there was a fit between my experience and the available roles. It was very relaxed and informal. We then set up a video call over email where he gave me a coding question.
I later did another technical call with Mitsu, the head architect, which was more high-level problem solving (no code this time).
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The question in the technical video call was more focused on the lifecycle of a software problem than your typical coding interview question. It had a significant introduction where you get to understand a user need. Then you write a function to meet that need, and afterwards you review it with the interviewer if there's time to discuss code style, architecture and performance. I found it holistic and satisfying. I got a better sense of what working with Jeff would be like from discussing my solution with him. The problem itself was of average difficulty, I'd say.
I applied online. I interviewed at Lark (Mountain View, CA) in Sept 2020
Interview
Everyone is so friendly! The screening call went well. I was asked about my background and interests and goals. There was a technical interview and a virtual on-site panel that involved several more technical interviews as well as cultural interviews.
Very disorganized. They don't even bother to inform you once they have decided to not hire you. I had a phone interview with them and was told clearly that the work environment is highly stressful and they don't care about work life balance until customer deadlines are met.
