GoCardless Senior Software Engineer interview questions

Typically, technical interviews are supposed to be a collaborative conversation where the interviewer and I break down a problem together and work through it. However, in this case, the interviewers seemed distracted and remained quiet, leaving me to pause frequently to ensure we were on the same page. Despite this, I received nods of agreement and was asked questions about my approach and code choices, which led me to believe everything was going smoothly. Unfortunately, I received a rejection email with some feedback, which revealed a stark contrast between their expectations and my understanding of the interview. It became clear that they had misinterpreted my explanations and didn't appreciate the time I took to ensure my code worked properly with tests. Moreover, it seemed they missed the point of a technical assessment, prioritizing getting the code to work over evaluating how I would approach and solve a problem.

At the begging they said that they would decide if I am a P2/P3 during the interview process and that they do sponsor visa, but they didn’t mention that they only sponsor for P3. They put me up for a P3 but got evaluated as a successful candidate for P2 which was okay with me but then after management have discussed the visa sponsorship situation (turns out they don’t provide visa sponsorship for P2 only P3). They decided not to extend and offer for a P2. It was so sad that after all of this hard work regarding interviewing that this was the blocker, they couldn’t approve my visa sponsorship as a P2. Which made me feel that I didn’t have an equal opportunity since they would choose someone who doesn’t require a visa sponsorship. But I also understand that they just want to respect their own policy of not moving forward from the begging if the person is a P2 who requires visa. They were genuinely trying to be fair for the ones they rejected from the beginning in regards to this policy. The process was very interesting, requiter call, pair programming, behavioral and Code review + System Design . I loved everyone that I have talked to, it was very interesting and people were amazing, I could really see myself working there. They give you feedback on every step of the way after each interview with the positives and the negatives. The reqruiter was very friendly and empathetic. I wish they have had sponsored me. I would’ve loved to work there. All in all I do recommend people to apply and ro work there, goodluck to everyone who gets to do so, seems like a nice place