Overall I found my candidate experience to be very positive. I had attended a networking event that the VP of Engineering and some others from the Bitly team were at and I made a point of asking if they had any idea of upcoming internships. Fast forward to a few months later the VP actually reached out to me personally and let me know of the upcoming internships for the summer that were going to be coming open. I immediately applied as soon as they were open, made sure to mention the reference in my brief cover letter, and managed to get a call from the Recruiter. Fast foward to the end of the process, it all took roughly a month from application to offer. The rough process timeline: -Application -1 week later roughly was a phone call with the recruiter. -1 week later roughly was a video call with the hiring manager -Later that week I was offered the take home assessment -I had 72 hours (Plus a weekend) to work on the take home assignment. -Turned assessment in on a Monday -few days later they let me know I had passed and scheduled a live 45 minute coding challenge with an engineer the following week, -The next day I had a 45 minute values chat with 2 other engineers on the team and finally a 30 minute wrap up with the hiring manager So, altogether there was 5 rounds of interviews spread over about 4 weeks. The takehome challenge was difficult but not impossible. The live coding challenge was just a chance to add on to my project and I was able to anticipate what I would work on fairly easily to prepare myself. --- I thought the process was organized and a good experience. Each person I interacted with was really pleasant to chat with and I thought the engineers were chill. The hardest part was the assessment and just getting over the nerves for talking to another person about it and working on adding on to it. It is sad to read other comments about getting ghosted, but to put it into perspective for future applicants, the recruiter told me I was one of 1500+ applicants. They are definitely swamped right now with the way the market it so it is not my impression that they do not value you or your time, simply that they are overworked right now. Tips to future applicants. Always be communicative. Always have questions. Take notes. And reach out to say thank you to each person you interact with. Lead with empathy with your interactions with the team and show your enthusiasm! If you are excited about this opportunity, show it! They seemed to appreciate it from me.
