The interview was about 3 hours , and every engineer was extremely friendly supportive; even when I got stumped on a question. During these three hours, you move between teams and get asked a different set of questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you go about displaying this data from an API call?
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Policygenius (New York, NY) in May 2019
Interview
Started with a short video interview, then a code challenge (not timed) in any language I wanted, followed by an onsite interview. The onsite was a long day, with 7 different sessions - standard interview questions, pair programming, etc, varying 1-2 people per session. I was able to get a good sense of the company and the engineering department. Overall, I never felt like they intentionally asked anything that was too hard or unrealistic. It was more about seeing if my strengths and personality were a right fit for the company.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Standard questions (tell me about a time you had a challenging project, etc), nothing intended to trip you up
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Policygenius (New York, NY) in Jun 2019
Interview
Recruiter phone screen, take-home coding challenge, and onsite interviews. Onsite interviews consist of engineering values, two 'pair' programming sessions, engineering system design interview. A recruiter will call you back about the final decision.
The conversations about their engineering culture were positive. I was able to ask questions to understand how the product engineering works, and everyone seems to really enjoy working at Policy Genius. I basically passed all the 'cultural and engineering values interviews', except the technical part...
for the 'pair' programming session, I thought I performed okay since I was able to get to the end of the problem with the expected outcome, but ended up having the recruiter saying that the feedback says there were too many red flags in regards to my technical ability. First of all, it wasn't a pair programming session, not much interaction was going on during the interview, and I really didn't know what to expect from it or how I was expected to perform within such short period of time. It was just me trying to explain my code, figuring the solution, and code my way through. Since the wording of the problem was also ambiguous, I wasn't getting the right outcome even though my solution was right. Of the four engineers I 'pair-programmed' with, only one of them eventually helped to clarify the ambiguous part. I feel like I was being judged unfairly for my coding ability, and I really wish they could have provided more visibility about what to expect from an interviewee for the 'pair programming session', so I know what to expect and focus on while preparing for the interview.
After the onsite interview, I emailed to ask for the status of my candidacy. There was no response. I had to email again after a few days to have the recruiter reply to ask for a 10 mins chat. I gave him my availability, but he didn't reply until the end of the next day. I did not feel respected about my time at all, I was left hanging the entire time. It could have been an easy email rejection, with feedback, and an option to call for additional feedback.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why do you want to join Policy Genius? Tell me about a time you encountered a technical challenges
Thank you for sharing your experience! We always welcome feedback on our hiring process, and we strive to make sure our candidates are as prepared as possible and have a clear understanding of what will be expected of them. Upon review, we agree that our description of the code pairing sessions could be improved, and we’ve made changes to how we describe our technical sessions going forward.
If you’d like to speak more about your experience or share any additional notes for us, please feel free to reach out directly to recruiting@policygenius.com.
Thanks!
The Pg Recruiting Team
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