I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at WillowTree (Charlottesville, VA) in Aug 2016
Interview
First I was asked to complete a video interview, where I was asked to record video answers to written questions. This part was a little bit awkward, but not a big deal.
After this I was contacted by a recruiter who asked me some questions about myself and then set up a technical phone interview with an engineer at the company. For this technical interview, I talked on the phone with one of the engineers and completed some basic programming/problem solving tasks. None of these was very hard and the interviewer was very helpful/friendly.
I was contacted by the recruiter again, who told me that the next step would be for me to complete a take home project. The take home project was very open-ended, and I probably went a little overboard.
After submitting the take-home project, I was then asked to complete a final round of interviews onsite in Charlottesville (I was applying for the Durham office). This day of interviews was very casual, and largely consisted of talking shop with several (clearly bright, and very friendly) engineers, with a little whiteboard coding peppered in.
I received an offer shortly afterwards and I accepted it.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I believe I signed an NDA, but the general theme of the questions involved algorithmic thinking, software design practices, and cultural fit.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at WillowTree in Jul 2024
Interview
Let me be clear up front: the actual hiring team was one of the most glowing interview experiences I've ever had. The problem is that the *company* made it into one of the most horrific interview experiences I've ever had. Their culture interview raised one of the greenest flags I've ever encountered in an interview -- "what does psychological safety mean to you?" But as much as I can believe the individuals who asked me this, the thing is... when WillowTree says they value psychological safety, WillowTree is lying. Because they have no problem rescinding a job offer if you ask too many questions after reading the fine print.
(On an incredibly related note, Glassdoor needs a 4th option when asking about whether you got one.)
Now that wasn't even the *only* lie. Adding insult to injury, these people had the audacity to then send me *a candidate survey* afterward, with the subject line "we'd love your feedback." Now, I understand that this is automated, but if you're using automation in your processes, you're also responsible for using it better than that. Even in the best case, soliciting feedback, after pulling a job offer on someone for any reason, is comically terrible.
This piece alone alone is easily the most spectacular failure I have encountered interviewing for any job anywhere. There's deserving to get embarrassed by the ways your processes go sideways, and then there's *literally asking for it.*
The first stage was a coding interview, and it was medium difficulty. The last stage was coding a whole project (there is some code and base already there) - it was pretty hard.
It was not a bad process, it went very quickly and the interviewers were very easy to talk to. It’s definitely not as stretched out as long as other processes
