Location: Toronto, Canada
Application: Recruiter outreach
Duration: Approximately one week

Process

Recruiter conversation → Hiring Manager interview → Coding pre-screen → 90-minute virtual onsite peer-programming round -> No offer 🥹

What Happened in Each Round

1. Recruiter Conversation

The recruiter reached out directly, explained the position, and asked standard HR questions :)

2. Hiring Manager Interview

Then moved on to HM round. No info disclosed.

3. Coding Pre-screen

The interviewer asked a LeetCode Easy–level string-decoding problem.

4. Virtual Onsite — Peer Programming

The virtual onsite included a 90-minute peer-programming round. The interviewer provided an existing codebase and asked for a missing piece of logic in an SQL connector to be implemented.

Key Takeaways

• The peer-programming round tested the ability to navigate and modify an unfamiliar production-style codebase.
• The interviewer expected focused implementation rather than a complete understanding of the entire repository.
• The op's main advice was to begin with the requested functionality and inspect only the relevant classes, methods, and dependencies (thank you, op :)
• Spending too much time reading the entire codebase before writing anything was the main mistake.