Hiring manager interview then reached the Manager interview where they were looking for a specific experience around consuming and processing data, data pipelines, scaling experience around that architecture with the same stack that they use
Difficult interview
Application
I applied online. I interviewed at Datadog in Jul 2024
Interview
I interviewed for a Staff Frontend Engineer role.
The process was quite lengthy, which should be expected for Staff+ levels:
- a couple of preliminary interviews (recruiter + hiring manager)
- 1 coding interview with a Staff engineer
- 1 system design interview with a Staff engineer
- 1 presentation with 3 Staff engineers
- 1 technical background discussion with a Staff engineer
- 1 hiring manager interview with an engineering Director
After all these, the recruiter told me the outcome was positive and that they would extend an offer. I then had 2 team match interviews with 2 engineering managers so I could indicate which team I preferred joining.
Overall, the process took a month and a half (but it can probably be shorter depending on your availabilities). Everything was extremely transparent and clearly explained. The recruiter explained the purpose of each interview, and what I should expect. Definitely a positive experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Coding and design are not too difficult, as long as you're correctly prepared, and there are countless online resources for this.
However, plan some time ahead to prepare the presentation and technical background interviews. Make sure to choose projects:
- that you know enough to go in-depth technically
- that are recent enough so you can answer questions without having to dig in your memories too much
- that have a relatable tech stack, so that the interviewer can easily find relevant questions.
One of the projects I chose didn't meet any of those criteria, and I did have a hard time keeping the interviewer engaged. I still passed, but in hindsight, I would choose something different.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Datadog
Interview
My experience with Datadog was outstanding. All the people I interacted with were nice and knowledgeable and they were really patient letting me take the time that I needed to evaluate other offers.
I’ll keep things a bit vague out of respect for Datadog.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
Coding: A data structure to efficiently handle a time based stream of data.
Technical interview experience was extremely concerning. Successfully completed their LeetCode technical screen with thorough discussion, testing, and 15 minutes remaining on the call. Later received a rejection email with feedback that I “did not complete” the exercise, and that explanations of the algorithm’s inner workings were considered a waste of time. Company's handling of feedback and clarification requests was unprofessional - avoiding direct answers, requiring management escalation and multiple internal discussions, and ultimately providing no clear explanation. Shows serious issues with their interview process and communication.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Generic pattern matching medium/hard question pasted directly from leetcode.com