I had an initial call with a recruiter on a Friday that went well. The recruiter was very professional and engaging, and I was told I would hear back about next steps on Monday. On Tuesday, the recruiter emailed to update me, but had not received a response from the hiring manager. On Wednesday, the recruiter emailed to set up a technical phone screen on Monday. At the beginning of the technical phone screen, the interviewer asked me if I had any questions about the role, which I did. The interviewer audibly sighed and sounded put out as he answered my questions. He then proceeded to disinterestedly grill me with gotcha language trivia questions. At the end of the call, he said he would email a programming problem for me to complete and send back, but he said, “Don’t spend a lot of time on it.” The instructions for the problem contradicted this and said to take my time and do it right as if it was a project that I would be completing on the job at Seegrid. I returned the completed program with an efficient, working solution the following day. Three days afterwards I received a form letter rejection email. Between the delays in scheduling the tech screen, and the interviewer’s attitude on the call, I strongly suspect that a decision was made on my candidacy long before my phone screen. I won’t be wasting my time applying at Seegrid again. Don’t bother applying unless you fit their preconceived notion of the perfect developer or have encyclopedic language knowledge ready on the tip of your tongue.

I applied online and received a phone call from a recruiter the next day. I was able to set up a phone screen interview a couple of days later. Phone call mostly went over my background and experience. I applied knowing I didn't quite meet the requirements, but hoped I was close enough. The interviewer was polite and honest (surprisingly uncommon while interviewing) about the fact that I didn't have the experience they needed, and I heard back quickly. While of course I would have liked a chance to move to a technical interview to demonstrate my skills, this was still a better experience than most places I've interviewed.