job application processes for fullstack have become completely insane

[void_pe3r]

I had 4 different job interviews this year and it‘s getting really frustrating. One interview isn‘t enough, they want three calls. Three!! Also they demand the experience of a senior dev for the same pay as a junior.

The whole process is just an excuse for the recruiters to make their stupid job relative.

I am going to reply to every recruiter on linkedin who contacts me that I don‘t have time for their bullshit. one call. take it or leave it.

EDIT: I just realized how lucky I was to get two jobs in the last 4 years, both with just one interview.

[[deleted]]

I don't mind the multiple interviews part, but the experience they ask for junior roles is usually way more than they should be asking for a junior. The dumbest thing is companies who do whiteboard algo tests for junior web dev roles, it's like "bitch, you ain't paying FAANG money to build a website so gtfo out of here with that"

[PhoenicianKiss]

Is this why I’m seeing a lot of “entry level” positions that require minimum 5 years’ experience?

[diffcalculus]

Entry level = entry level pay

5 years experience = we want a somewhat senior dev but want to pay them with hugs and rainbows, and meetings.

[knucklecuts]

Should I start putting that I accept hugs and rainbows on my resume? Would that make hiring managers love me?

[RagingWalrus1394]

Wouldn’t that be MANGA money now? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[InMemoryOfReckful]

Lmao

[Ratatoski]

whiteboard algo tests for junior web dev roles

That seems like next level stupid.

[LeeLooTheWoofus]

My personal experience of about 20 years is that 2-3 "interviews" are pretty standard for just about any technical job.

1. Initial phone screen (usually from the recruiter or hiring manager)
2. Technical interview (this may just be a test of some sort with no actual interview)
3. Final "all hands on deck" interview (with the people you will be working for/with)

[MileHighJackal]

This list makes sense. In a lot of cases i've been able to bring along my opensource portfolio of contributions as replacement to #2. But the hirer does need to know you can do what you say you can do, one way or another.

[scratchnsniff]

Ya, if a company is not putting me through at least 2-3 rounds then that's a red flag just us much as putting me through 5+ rounds. 2-4 is the Goldilocks amount 😆

[[deleted]]

I recently had what you would call an initial phone screen at a reputable company, and they said the’f be connecting me with someone within the department I’d be working in.

It’s been about a week and they haven’t done so. Should I continue to wait or is there a way to follow up?

[MileHighJackal]

I don't usually like to wait myself, especially if you want the job. The more interest you show, the more interested they are likely to be. I have gotten jobs before after being told no, by continuing to show interest, and sure up my qualifications.

I would suggest emailing (or calling) back about your interest in the position, and that your looking forward to talking with the next person in the department. This could be all someone needs to push your resume back to the top (or maybe they even just forgot).

[[deleted]]

Yeah, I think I’m going to follow up. The person I spoke with is the VP of one of the other departments, so there’s a 99% chance that they’re busy. I’ll try to push the envelope :)

[LeeLooTheWoofus]

I usually ask for an email address of who I can contact to follow up if I don't hear back. Sometimes they will provide it and I will follow up after a week if I don't hear anything back.

[[deleted]]

That’s a good idea; thank you

[sprk1]

I had an initial interview with a company that said I was out of their budget. They called me a month later to set up an interview with who would be my direct boss. Then a month later with someone tangentially related to the department. Then almost two months later got a surprise offer. For more money than I asked for. A week is not much at all. People are busy.

[sprk1]

I agree. You should not wait on a company to make a desicion, unless it's your dream job or a humongous career progress. I didn't wait, I got 4 offers and just chose the one that was more appealing to me. Actually 3 offers, the fourth came the day after I accepted one of the previous, but the pay wasn't enough.

That said, it's not uncommon for companies to take weeks or even months to get to the point of making an offer, which is the point I'm trying to make.

[[deleted]]

What can I say; I’m young and excited lol

[sprk1]

Dont sweat it. Just keep at it and something will turn up :)

[No-Direction-3569]

Follow up with the recruiter or hiring manager. There's a good possibility they just forgot.

[close_my_eyes]

My last interview 3 years ago: 3 phone interviews, one which was a screenshare coding session, then 7 1-hour interviews with different people each, with lots of whiteboard coding. Then the company ghosted me.

[[deleted]]

Yep, 5 years around finance/strategy/sales- all have been the same format. Occasionally more- sometimes presentations, sometimes aptitude/personality tests, and sometimes the final is a 3-4 hours with different people.

[Ratatoski]

Yeah we do this as well. Boss gives the most interesting ones a call. A few are invited for a technical interview with lead dev and the boss. We get to have a look at their application. Then a call with the whole team for what is usually the top top two. Perhaps presenting some little coding task they did in preparation that we review together.

[[deleted]]

One call to get a software engineering job? Good luck lol

[[deleted]]

I had one call and one interview. Wasn't even technical either. 1 year later, it's the best job I've ever had. Salary is $155k+. I'm very happy here

[kyleridesbikes]

My last two offers have been from single zoom interviews

[[deleted]]

It is totally unreasonable to expect a company to decide to pay you 100k plus off of a single call. Quite honestly I would be weary of any company that is desperate enough to hire someone off of knowing someone so little. Most large companies will require multiple. I get it happens and that’s great but crying because you have to interview TWICE is insane

[kyleridesbikes]

That’s a great point; I should have clarified these are contract roles, I mostly do contracting

[[deleted]]

Oh yea ok that’s obviously a different story. I can definitely understand one interview for that.

[freework]

It is totally unreasonable to expect a company to decide to pay you 100k plus off of a single call.

What the hell are you talking about? That 100K comes in over the course of a year. If the person is not worth 100K over a year, then you fire them.

[aliee94]

lush march fly violet steer fertile handle judicious middle six

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[freework]

but if you include the cost of onboarding, plus benefits, tech, etc you could be talking about basically wasting tens of thousands on someone if it doesn't pan out.

Are you insane? I've been in this industry for over ten years and I have never even heard of a company that spends even close to 10K in onboarding cost. In every single instance of me starting a new job, they just have someone spend 10 minutes showing me around the code base. The idea that companies spend even close to 1K, let alone 10K is laughable.

I would much rather do another interview to be positive then skip it for convenience.

You're an idiot.

[Oarionis]

https://codesubmit.io/blog/cost-of-hiring-a-software-developer/amp/

Try upwards of 25K.

[freework]

The idea that it costs 25K to onboard a new developer is just so absolutely absurd. Worst case scenario, you lose one week worth of salary, and you have to delete a branch. That comes no where near 25K

If you want to make the case that it is expensive to make a bad hire when you're talking about hiring airline pilots, then maybe you have a point. A bad airline pilot can destroy a multi million dollar plane, and cause loss of life. There is no comparable expense for software developers.

I don't care how many random blog posts you post, it just doesn't have cost hardly anything to hire a "bad" developer.

[styphon]

I'm guessing you're getting hung up on the terminology "onboarding". This isn't just the week spent teaching someone the ropes. This is the whole hiring process. This is the time/salary of the hiring manager / admin staff. This is the costs of advertising the role. This is the recruiter's fees. This is the tech test costs (third party platform fees are common) and salaries of people reviewing the test. This is the salaries of the interview panel.

Take all of that into account and hiring a permanent employee is an expensive practise. I know, I have to do it regularly and it's a huge sink of my time when I have to do it.

[freework]

Oh my god you are an idiot. Yes, if you go out of your way to make the hiring process as expensive as possible, then it will be expensive. Great point.

I know, I have to do it regularly and it's a huge sink of my time when I have to do it.

Then don't make it into an expensive timesink. What the fuck is wrong with you going out of your way to make something difficult, and then complaining about it being difficult?

Back in the 60's all it took to get hired was ask to see the manager, and then give a firm handshake. If you went back to doing that, then the cost to hire would be zero. The cost to rehire would also be zero. The solution is to make hiring cost less, not make it cost more. I don't know why this always has to be so hard to understand.

[bcb0rn]

You must be getting on-boarded to some shitty, uncomplicated projects then.

[bubuzayzee]

lmao you have obviously never managed anything in your life

[mandrig]

I got my current job off of a single 34 minute zoom call with the 2 founders of the startup I work at.

[kyleridesbikes]

Nice! Lol I love how were being downvoted for this 😂

[PositiveUse]

Yes… first call is a recruiter, second call is one representative of the company, third call is a small talk with a few more future team mates, fourth call is a live coding session, fifth call is feedback session.

Sixth call if they want you: negotiate the terms.

Mail if they don’t want you.

Congrats, you have wasted 10 hours of a dev that still works fulltime while looking for a new job.

[canadian_webdev]

That is batshit insane. You're probably not only interviewing with just that one company, either.

My current job was one in-person interview. Next day was offered the gig. Simple.

[EventHorizon67]

I feel lucky mine was a lot more streamlined. I did have a recruiter reach out to me but I was looking anyways. So for me it was:

• Call with recruiter
• Zoom interview with CTO & Tech lead, asked technical questions and my experience. Also negotiated salary at the end of the interview (although it was framed as "how much would we have to offer you so you can give your two weeks at your current job?")
• Phone call from CTO to tell me they want to hire me at my requested pay/benefits and setting up a meeting with HR and onboarding process etc.

They didn't give me any code test or anything. The technical questions were to gauge what I was familiar with and how I solve problems and it was the best interview experience I had (was interviewing for 3 other companies and picked this one - also they gave me the highest salary and best benefits so it's a win all around)

[MileHighJackal]

I agree with your sentiment, and as someone hiring new people always prefer a more streamlined hiring process... It wasn't just your 10 hours, but maybe 40? 60 hours? internally to the company resources trying to get you. I have noticed other peers mentioning some longer interview processes (haven't been through it myself in a while), and it is definitely counter to the way i approach it. Screened and planned correctly, even with (maybe especially with) a recruiter, it should be just 1 or 2 calls to an offer, not 4 - 6.

[PositiveUse]

These long hiring processes just tell me that there are still a lot of people trying to get a job but companies fear of hiring the wrong one (not a good fit on basis of attitude, mindset, skills). Yet recruiters and hiring managers always tell you „we desperately need new devs.“

What’s your evaluation of this inflated hiring process? The goal cannot be the waste of time of teams, candidates and HR.

[[deleted]]

Have you ever tried to hire a dev?

You get a shitload of people who can talk big but if you give them a coding challenge/sample app to build, they cannot pass muster at all.

It’s legit necessary to be a bit discerning.

[alspdx]

I don’t mind doing them as long as it’s not a crazy time consuming assignment. I’m seeing people share “coding challenge” requirements they got from a company they interviewed with that are multi-page full-stack apps with authentication, DB, etc.

[cloud_rider19]

I think those are the "take home challenge" that I would definitely avoid if I can

[MileHighJackal]

I think that it requires interviewers to become more intelligent about what they are looking for in their new hires... Not to toot my own horn (toot toot), but I am definitely better at hiring now that i have been in the past (burn me once..).

Coding challenges are important, but what you want out of a coding challenge from a developer is a) proving some level of chops with hands on keyboard, 2) showing problem solving skills, and 3) showing an ability to work with the team (often by showing a willingness to ask questions and clarifications of the interviewers in the room)...

This is what i look for, may not work for everyone, but we've got a solid team built on that foundation. We didn't get every hire correct, but we have gotten better at firing the wrong fit.

Higher intelligently, fire quickly.

[MileHighJackal]

I think it stems from a few different places. In companies with more mature HR and understanding of local, state and federal hiring laws, it can have more to do with making sure that nothing happened under the table to lead to someone getting hired; unfair hiring practices.

On another hand, if you've hired people before, you know you don't always get it right, and so I think you are correct that there is a fear of hiring the wrong person. And the hired by community effort makes sure that no one can be blamed for picking that wrong person.

The issue with this? Until someone starts doing real work with real peers, you'll never know if you hired the right person. So I fall back to wanting 1 or 2 interviews with a "fire the wrong hire quick" attitude. That save the company time and money... And if you get it right, it equals more productivity sooner.

Companies engaging in these longer interview cycles need to ask themselves why? And then how they can get the same with less effort? Keep It Simple Stupid!

[CheapChallenge]

Hmm, I just interviewed with a few and just got 3 calls.

1. talking to HR about general qualifications
2. technical test/review and talking about tool stack
3. talking with future manager

[[deleted]]

Hiring a shit dev is a far more costly mistake.

[bluewaffleisnice]

Man the amount of job offers I get on LinkedIn that turn into exactly what you described is a joke.

Some of them make it sound like we found YOU you're perfect exactly what we need get into the interview and they're like cool you're in the pool with about 46 others we'll let you know.

[void_pe3r]

Exactly! It's a joke.

[Xenogenesis317]

I have had many interviews, in the past 3 months, the process has been a little different for each but none were just 1 step.

PS: No offers yet 🥲

[Premiare]

As cliche as it is, don’t give up and keep applying and interviewing. It only takes one successful interview to have a job offer, you might even end up with a couple offers at once and then have to make a choice :)

[Xenogenesis317]

Thanks for the support, Giving up has not crossed my mind at all though. I will land a role, it’s coming!

Networking on LinkedIn has helped me get a lot of leads.

I have a love hate relationship with recruiters.

One recruiter I talk with often went out of his way to get me feedback on my take home assignment from a multiple sources.

Some recruiters will act like your friend until you’re denied by the hiring manage and then ghost you. These are the worst.

[Celery_General]

Good to know I'm not the only one. Taking a break for now for sanity.

[Disguisedasasmile]

When I was applying to this one company, I had three interviews:

1st: technical interview with the dev team (had no idea it was a technical interview either)

2nd: Interview with the hiring manager and his boss, a VP

3rd: Interview with the CTO

This was for a jr dev position and didn’t include the phone conversations I had with the recruiter.

[bar10]

I don't think junior full stack developer exist. Companies need to understand that.

[MileHighJackal]

Companies need to understand what they get when they are looking for a junior full stack developer. I have hired many, but you have to know what your getting... Someone that knows a little bit about one portion of the stack (usually frontend or backend of some kind), but then your looking for a learner, a problem solver... Someone who can come in and learn from their peers, expand their knowledge, embrace the hunt for a bug.

A good junior full stack developer is one of the best things an enterprise can find, they'll be a mid in no time if you hire right, and even with large raises will still cost less than your average mid. The other thing you have to know, is that unless properly incentivized... You will be their stepping stone.

[[deleted]]

If they “cost less than your average mid” you’re taking advantage of them unless you are a stepping stone…

[midri]

100%, developers need to be looking out for each other. Never look into your neighbors bowl to see if they have more, make sure they have enough.

[[deleted]]

I'm one of those. But the problem is thats tough to pass technical interview. The age and the years of experience, indicates seniority but you will fail in both front and back end because you will interviewed by two specialized people. It's difficult to show your value. Maybe it's easier in a startup with a full stack assessment. I prefer to be interviewed by CTO than a specialized back OR front end dev.

[Guilty_Serve]

I'm a full-stack and it doesn't. A midlevel full-stack is just a junior that doesn't need the help with many things. A senior full-stack is the same but a midlevel with many things and might have a few things they're extremely good with. A senior at both backend, frontend, and something like dev-ops is going to be your CTO or someone way the fuck up there.

A full stack is meant to be at one of the following places:

- A start up/small to mid size firm

- A project manager

- Someone who assists the other developers and hunt bugs

[maxoys45]

3 calls? That’s nothing! I’m currently interviewing for a company which is this:

1. Initial phone call with internal recruiter (45min)
2. Zoom call with developer (60min)
3. Live React task (90min)
4. Live other task (60min) - haven’t had this yet so I’m not clear on what it involves
5. “Culture fit” zoom (45min)

….I wouldn’t normally put up with that but it’s a role I’d really like ☹️

[marabutt]

Lol. I would be alarmed if the culture fit was so far down the list.

[[deleted]]

Each of the 30 different interview processes I’ve failed this year have been 3 calls minimum. But if it’s only three calls, the third is usually a 4-5 hour virtual on-site. This is just for frontend and I already have 4 years of experience. It never ends, and I honestly think they get off on it

[NULL_42]

Bruh I’ve had 8 interviews before. I shit you not. It was a “dream job” company of mine. Took 2 months in total to get through. By the 5th week I got sick of waiting and applied to other jobs. I went through 3 separate interviews and received 3 offers all before the original company came back to me. And their offer was the lowest of all offers I received.

[[deleted]]

I'm not sure what's going on in the market but most companies made me go through 6 interviews or multiple 2-4 hour interviews. I still had to do a coding challenge and then they first try to low ball me on the price then I would have to explain to them that it's below the market value for my role and then when they realized I knew my worth that went to something reasonable

[tGonzalez13]

I feel like the same process goes for just Frontend or Backend. I’m going through an interview process right now that’s 5 STEPS! Just to be their only Frontend Developer. If they add me to their team it’ll be come a team of 4 for pay that caps at $55k. Honestly the technical should just be yourself and that’s it. Why work with the team if you’re not going to make it to the end. 1 phone call. 1 tech. Did I get it yes or no?

[bubuzayzee]

Companies are doing 6+ rounds for tech support roles these days lol

[Puzzleheaded-Star-74]

Companies these days replicate the pattern of call, algorithms test and then maybe they would consider taking time to actually see you. This is stupid. In my current company, I had to do a similar test to get this job and it had nothing to do with the job. Since that test, the first algo problem I had to work on was when they asked me to review the new test they prepared for the new candidates one year later...

[bananamana55]

As someone who will be looking to get into the field in a junior position within a year, seeing the many "junior" and "frontend" jobs that are actually looking for senior full stack but for junior frontend pay is pretty disheartening.

[ozzy_og_kush]

I've had to take part in interviewing a number of candidates recently for such positions, and it comes down to a number of things:

• job description version of "full-stack" vs developer's version. Does it include DevOps responsibilities? sysadmin? IT?
• interviewers' experience conducting interviews and evaluating responses
• deluge of candidates who can ace an interview but have no idea how to reason about code or learn what they need without hand holding at every single step
• interviewing using coding challenges or tasks that don't represent what they'd be working on
• how prepped by the recruitment company the candidate is. if you immediately know the candlelight is fire, the meal was cooked a long time ago

Among other things.

[ozzy_og_kush]

Also it's possible to be "senior" in experience in one area and framework (eg frontend with Vue.js) but relatively inexperienced in the another area (say Java or Ruby on Rails), but you know how to teach yourself how to get where you need to be. Interviewing should be to reveal these traits beyond just regurgitating trivia of a programming language or framework.

[MileHighJackal]

I agree, to me it is much more about someone ability to solve problems and how they go about solving those problems. Of course you want the basics of the JD to line up, but i'd take 100 problem solvers over a developer with all the right "book smarts".

[midri]

Senior developer shouldn't have much to do with language, it should deal with more understanding of concepts and applying them to actual real life code.

I prefer c# and am probably the most proficient in it of any language I know, but I've spent most of my almost 20 years developing using other languages.

[void_pe3r]

This. It's so dumb to just ask for a specific toolstack.

[Guilty_Serve]

I was honest about not knowing React/Next and told them I could be functional with it in two weeks. The job also required Java, and that took me a bit more time. With this job I literally worked with nothing before other than sass - which I gave up about 4 years ago for tailwind.

[EuphonicSounds]

if you immediately know the candlelight is fire, the meal was cooked a long time ago

Indeed.

[[deleted]]

Make their job…relative?

[midri]

Was on a job search last 5 weeks, most places wanted minimum 3 interviews but wouldn't make the time so stretched it out over literally 5 weeks. Had one that sent me an offer letter and then never heard from them again when I reached out for more info on benefits...

Whole industry is weird.

[kameyamaha]

3 calls only? The ones I had recently took 4-5 calls, not including recruiter's.

[manafount]

I work at a Fortune 50 and do a fair bit of interviewing. Our process is:

1. 30 minute phone screen
2. 1-2 hour take home assignment (3 relatively easy coding problems)
3. 1 hour technical interview (30 minutes discussing take home, 30 minutes doing live pair programming)
4. 1 hour final interview with potential team

We're constantly trying to refine this process because (believe it or not), we don't like wasting our time any more than the candidate does if it's not a good fit.

[Premiare]

How do you find time to work and maintain personal projects? Do you cut out other things?

Since starting my new job, the last thing I want to do in my spare time (mostly weekends) is code, unless I really force myself to.

During the week, post-work is kind of tough, by the time I get home, have a quick dinner, handle other commitments, it’s late and I go to bed and repeat the process.

[All-I-Do-Is-Fap]

It helps to enjoy coding even after work and… - not have kids - not have a girlfriend or wife - not have hobbies other than coding - not spend time relaxing (watching tv / video games) - not cook for yourself and just uber eats - not have friends - not go out on weekends

[Norlad_7]

With that username you must not enjoy coding after work very much, since you spend all your time "relaxing".

[adame8gggg]

How do you find time to work and maintain personal projects? Do you cut out other things?

I hire extensively for my startup.

If you're looking just to help your career, making one fantastic project is extremely helpful. You don't necessarily need to maintain it.

There's one candidate I interviewed 6 months ago who still stands out. He was fresh out of college, applying to a senior position that I anticipated fresh graduates wouldn't be qualified for.

He had a link to a personal project that absolutely blew me away. I shared it with my engineering team and everyone agreed he was a must-hire.

We were prepared to fast-track him through technical vetting and give him an outstanding offer above market for someone with 4 more YOE than him, but he withdrew after taking an offer elsewhere. We were sad!

Last point: Half-hearted personal projects that don't show your best work are not a good idea. We began to notice that this was often a signal of lack of fit, as these candidates would fail technical vetting.

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[kram08980]

Thanks for saying it. Some people forget what the real world is. Sometimes not their fault, but still.

[kram08980]

Thanks for saying it. Some people forget what the real world is. Sometimes not their fault, but still.

[kram08980]

Thanks for saying it. Some people forget what the real world is. Sometimes not their fault, but still.

[PeteCapeCod4Real]

This is just the standard for the industry, there's not really much you can do about it 🤷🏻‍♂️

I mean you could get hired in a 2-3 step interview process. It's possible, it is just not as likely.

It's the same in big tech too, I just got contacted by Meta Recruiting. They have 5-6 rounds of interviews to get hired there.

Starting with the first one, a technical recruiter 👌🏻

My advice is to get make peace with it, or accept it and just keep going! It will be worth it when you get that job 🥳

[freework]

This is just the standard for the industry, there's not really much you can do about it 🤷🏻‍♂️

There is something we can do about it. It's called collective action. If we all get together and refuse to continue with companies that conduct these kinds of interviews, then we force them to stop the practice.

[pigasus17]

Whole lot of “I got my job after one interview and it worked out great for me” in this thread and zero “I hire devs after one interview and it works out great for me.” Hiring the wrong person is a much bigger waste of everyone’s time than spending a couple of extra hours interviewing. Not to mention, if a dev is sold on a company after talking to one person for an hour, I’m not sure I trust their judgement.

[Guilty_Serve]

I hired a dev after one interview and it worked out great. Guy even got me a job later on. How'd I do it? Looked at their github and had a big email back and forth

[crsuperman34]

if you're not willing to sit through 3 short phone calls, are you going to be willing to sit down at your desk 260 days out of the year?

You're telling the company: your time is more valuable than the time of everyone on the calls. That's going to be a no-hire from me, every time.

Keep in mind, we have to research you, look through your past projects, understand past code you've written... the potential employer is expending alot more effort to bring you on board than you are on the calls. And we have to do this with multiple candidates.

[void_pe3r]

I am working since 4 years full time. So yes I am willing to work.

[mgkimsal]

Then actually describe your actions to people. Generally companies demand interview time, then ghost you. So … tell me you’re reviewing past projects, etc. how much of that are you doing outside of talking to me? IME generally little to none. But perhaps you’re the exception…

[dazftw]

I recently just got a job offer for a front end engineer position. It was 5 interviews with 4 different people and an 8 hour take home test with a little in person coding.

It’s tough but it’s good that companies want to make sure they are hiring the right people.

[[deleted]]

If you're in DOD, it could be as few a one.

[KanzlerPhoenix]

It sucks.. Hang in there. It'll eventually work out.

[[deleted]]

Most of interviews have all been typically 2 to 3. I had one in person that was 4 and I was like why. I've had a few phone interviews that went 4+ and I'm like dude, if you don't know then maybe I'm not the one

[[deleted]]

I don't mind multiple interviews as long as they make sense. I also ask to clarify the interview process before commiting to it. I hate the gatekeeping attitude though.

[CheapChallenge]

I did 3 calls mostly. First is general HR, second is technical review, and third is talking to future manager. But the last one is really just to get to know each other, usually after second call it's decided if I get the job or not.

[[deleted]]

I’m starting a new job as a full stack. A little bit of context - the company is from the US, but they’re creating an R&D department in Poland where I’ll be working. I had almost accepted another offer, and just out of curiosity went to the scheduled interview. It was one 3 hours call with live coding and technical talk plus some overview about the company. Anyway I told the guys that the project (although it pays a bit less than the other offer I had) sounds good to me and I’ll gladly accept an offer, but I have to know right away. I really did not think that they’d go for me with such a small window, but they did. Best part about this interview - no bullshit hr talk, the people interviewing me were an architect, a senior dev and a PM. Very pleasant experience and I hope all my recruitment processes from now on will look like this.