I applied and was interviewed in early 2018. Had a conversation with HR first regarding current job situation, possible start date, salary expectations etc. Very shortly afterwards, interviewed with team lead and product owner. Just general questions about processes at my current work place and my job mostly. A couple of days after the interview, I was given a programming project to complete within 48 hours. I've been given programming projects before as part of the hiring process but I've always either been consulted on when the best time would be for me to complete a project or been notified by my interviewers that if they proceed, the next step is to complete a technical project. Xero did neither of those. I received the project on a Wednesday afternoon while I was at work and had to drop plans for the next two days to be able to work on the project after work. The project was deceivingly titled refactoring. But it was very open ended. Even the readme document they provide itself lists out numerous additions you can make to the project, a lot of which are really just a test of your ability to configure components rather than a test of your skill as a programmer. It's easier to just look at the project and then start over. I was told I could use other frameworks if I wanted but they would prefer it to be in React and would consider the fact that I don't have any experience in React if I decided to use it. I took on the challenge and learned and implemented my project in React. After refactoring and separating front and back end, I implemented most of the things outlined in the readme file except provide a linter and didn't have many comments. I also included unit tests, provided a git repository to view my changes and hosted this all on AWS to share. When I did not get to the next stage of the interview process after the project, I asked for feedback on it. I was given React specific comments and told that I did not provide tests. I did not hear back after pointing out the location of the tests, which I guess they must have missed. It seems to me that they either had a different unsaid reason to discriminate against my application or they really did expect expertise in a framework they explicitly said they wouldn't particularly judge. I'm not sure which one is worse. My advice to applicants is to evaluate the company just as they are evaluating you to see if your ideals align. Furthermore, ask yourself if you really want to spend hours/days on a project that might not even get evaluated fairly. And if you've decided that you really want to work for Xero and will do the project, remember to write tests (they don't list that they want you to) and maybe try working on some open source React project to understand enterprise level React programming because tutorials and reading articles isn't enough.