I was contacted at first by the in house HR Recruiter and then interviewed via Zoom by the "hiring manager". This interview went really well, the hiring manager said "we're going to definitely advance you in the process, you seem like a good fit and you will hear back from us". While this was said convincingly, I still had to follow up twice before hearing back 2 weeks later. Then, out of no where, I was scheduled for an interview with 6 members of the team for 3 back to back to back 2 person interviews that took place over several hours on a weekday.
I did research on all of my interviewers before speaking with them, it was a mix of some people very new to my particular form of engineering and some that were more experienced then myself.
While the job description and interview with the hiring and recruiting managers implied this would be a design based position (at least 50-75% of the time) all of the other people I spoke with presented it as a support position 90% of the time). I'm making up percentages here, but you get what I mean.
I am more than capable of doing support in my field, but this is not what I prepped for. All that being said, I felt like the process went well for me. I didn't have any major snafus, I gave my experience in detail and admitted what I had not done and detailed what I had very honestly. I was left with the impression that after 7 conversations that day and 2 prior that I was likely to land the position.
This was not reality. After I was told by the last interviewee (the most tenured at Netflix of all I spoke with) that I'd hear back in a day or two, I heard nothing. Over a full week later, I checked in and a day or two after that I was told I did not get the position. 9 days after completing a run of 9 conversations over the course of a month. After that level of time dedication and conversation, a company shouldn't ghost someone for 9 days.
I should say, I have over 25 years in the workforce, I have interviewed and applied for far more positions then I can remember, so I never fully "got my hopes up" in spite of every signal that I should. I was even LinkedIn by one of the Netflix folks that were part of the process. But what if I wasn't so experienced? To be lead along in this way really shows some flaws in the company and the way people are treated that leave me relieved I didn't get the job.
I should also say that 3 of the 6 of what would have been my peers didn't have more then a year of experience each. 1 was about equal to my experience, 1 had far more years in a different form of engineering then mine and 1 was very well certified and experienced (more then myself on paper at least). That being said, I was told this was a "team" decision.
I read fully through Netflix' culture memo, it's mantra during the interview process, so if you want a job there I suggest you do the same. Many questions come up directly about it or that are related to you existing within it in some abstract way. In that memo it talks a lot about a circular process where one person doesn't independently make decisions.
I think this is fine on paper for some decisions made by hired employees,, but in hiring meetings probably worked against me. I walk away feeling that if I had at least been given the opportunity to meet with the hiring manager for another round to address the notes of the staff I could have made a better impression. Instead I was analyzed by some staffers that really didn't have the work experience to make these kinds of decisions and almost all of them were located on the other side of the country. The actual staff on my coast only accounted for 2 of the 8 people I spoke with.
I still believe in Netflix as a fan of the work they do and still generally believe in the culture memo they are very upfront about promoting. I feel I would have been a good fit there theoretically.
But in retrospect, there were red flags. Not getting call backs and having to remind them every time for one. Almost every call or meeting with anyone at the company started late (either they are over worked or rude). There was also, from many, a reluctance to tell me much about their experience at the company and how they felt about it. It seems a bit insular there, the preaching of individuality sounded great from the outside in the memo, but in the small taste I had interviewing on the "inside" I'm not sure how it plays out in real life. To that point, another red flag is aside from 2 of the people I spoke to, no one had been with the company more then 3 years and at least 3 had been there less then 1 year themselves.
Just my two cents, I'm not stressing it because I know that if a company doesn't immediately want you, it's not worth it because it wouldn't be the right fit anyway. Good luck to all at Netflix and that spoke with me.
