I contacted them thru the site and a few days later was sent an online test with various basic - intermediate programming skills questions. I thought it was fair. I got called a few days later to come in for an interview with the lady who is the software manager. I was asked some behavioral and light tech questions. From the surface, it seems like quite a decent place to work.
I am an experienced dev who started programming with VB, so I have seen a lot of different companies and situations.
The building is very nice, but that don't really impress me about how the company runs. You can not help but notice how the top execs have an indoor garage right in the building, prominent sign and all. That is fine, but it may send a message to employees that management is very superior and above you. Employees park in a lot about a block away, there is a fee for all day parking but I don't know if the company subsidizes it. It is also right near major bus lines.
I caught a glimpse of where I believe the devs work and it looks like tall cubes. There is absolutely no flexibility when it comes to start or end times. NYS govt gives devs more flexibility. I don't live that close and I couldn't assure them I would be there at that precise time every day. The CEO complains in publications of no local talent but they wouldn't bend any rules for someone who is very experienced in their stack. Guess it is better to hire from China. I don't think this is a bad thing though, everyone is entitled to their own rules. It could show that the company is very inertial and stable, which may be good for some. Most dev jobs tout flexibility as a big perk, and for good reason. Creativity don't always happen on an 8-5 schedule. Software dev isn't customer service or even sales.
For me, flexibility could mean exceeding a deadline vs just meeting it, because I may in the mood to work all day Sunday with more productivity than sitting in an office from 8-9 with a distracting meeting after a long drive in the morning. For others, it may not be the case.
I also sensed micro-management, some thrive with that others don't. The product is also very niche and focused, hope you like yellow, as in school buses. Not a minus, but that is their industry.
The other major issue is developing in VB6, which is a language from the paleolithic era. VB6 came from a time where unit testing and design patterns like separating UI and logic were things you really didn't think about. It is a rapid tool to crank out a corporate crud application like time tracking or general ledger.
Lets be realistic, it is rare to have a lifetime job today, even moreso in tech. By the time you are ready for your next position, say 5 years down the line, you may be completely unemployable, especially in this area where companies are so picky and domain skill specific. Companies won't even contact you if you are an expert in windows forms but they want asp.net.
I believe they are moving away from that but from what I gathered in the interview there is core code that is there to stay, and you will be maintaining it and adding features. It would be very hard for me to suggest a developer who is starting out to get involved in VB6. Even in the early-mid 90s it was considered a compromise to C++, the lingua franca of the day.
It is definitely a dead language that although somewhat (minimally) supported in Windows 10 has many other issues. Even the more modern VB.net is dying and getting replaced by C#, but that is still a valuable skill. Using VB6 is tantamount to driving a 1940s car to work every day. Should some security issue arise, who knows what havoc that could wreak on a system. I would almost say to run those apps in their own VM.
In summary I have mixed feelings about Transfinder, it may be right for some but not others. I wouldn't suggest it as a first job, because of the VB6, but maybe someone living nearby with some experience and also to find out about more about a defined career path there, because the skills could be hard to transfer elsewhere.
The only thing I personally took away from this interview is an inspiration to develop my own software product.