Process was very straightforward. I applied for the position on their website and received the direct invitation for the take home test, without screening, a few days later.
The challenge was to create an app that would access Flickr's API and download an image linked to geolocation with precision every 100 meters, adding it to a list. The app should work in the background. They mention that a good programmer is able to do this in a few hours of work.
Well, I invested a good part of my weekend doing the project. I wanted to make sure everything worked, including doing extensive testing. It works perfectly. I sent the project and waited for an answer.
A week later I receive feedback that the project was reviewed with other members of the hiring team and that unfortunately they would not go ahead with the interview process. Without even a conversation. No real feedback beyond an excuse to reject me.
The excuse? The feedback given praised my project, but rejected me because, according to them, they could not download the images, an essential criteria for the challenge.
How come? The project works. I made sure it worked. I tested it on a real device for more than an hour. I took the zip file of the project and tested it in a clean environment, I asked friends to test it, and lo and behold, it works. It is very confusing.
What kind of evaluation do you do with your candidates at Komoot? What kind of consideration with the time spent by a candidate in a challenge that is not simple do you have? I would expect that at least the person who couldn't make the project work, if this reason was real (I can imagine countless problems, since the API is not yours and depend on external factors), would get the code and try to make it work. Or at least get in touch through a proper meeting and try to understand the problem, since all the structuring of my project made clear the time and effort spent on this and my knowledge towards the platform. This effort I made clear when I sent the challenge, including mentioning that I physically tested the app for over an hour.
Honestly, I expected more from a company like Komoot. I like your product a lot and I thought Komoot would be a great place to work. However, your hiring process left something to be desired and tarnished the good image I had of the company.
I hope that one day you will reconsider this position and recognize feedbacks that are clearly not mine alone, given the amount of recent negative reviews by engineers in the process. The way you are doing it borders on arrogance and does not leave a good taste in the mouths of those who participate and invest time and care in the challenge.