I've always been very impressed with Apache Kafka, would be thrilled for the opportunity to join Confluent and work with such an amazing product. However, their hiring team is very disappointing compared to the great stories I've heard about the company. More than one recruiter based in different offices reached out to me over LinkedIn at different times over the course of a couple months for an SDR role in one of their regional office. However the recruiters are very unprofessional. They will ask for your time and once you've given them, you'll never hear back. The first one reached out to schedule a first screening call and I've never heard back even after follow up. The second one did end up with a screening call, the recruiter cancelled the call last minute and rescheduled. Very standard questions, towards the end they are very pushy in wanting to know which clients I have worked with and what were my exact compensation package even when I made it clear that I do not want to share that information. At the end of the call, the recruiter told me that they will need to check with the hiring manager over some administrative issues and that they will get back to me. After this call, unsurprisingly, I did not hear back from them even after follow up from my end. In the end, I just felt like they reached out to see how the market is doing instead of genuinely wanting to fill the position. In addition to the recruiter screening, there will be a few more rounds, one with hiring manager, one with team members, and sales exec. All in all very disappointing interview experience with otherwise an amazing company in the industry. Advice to Recruiting Team: Please respect candidates as much as the respect they have given to your company, especially if you are the one who is reaching out and requesting for their time in the first place. Please do not seek out and waste a candidate's time if you have no intention in getting to know the candidates and are not serious in filling the role. Would've appreciate some sort of respond to my follow up emails or even a rejection email.

The interview process consisted of an initial phone screen, several interviews, a presentation, and a mock phone call. It was thorough and demanding, but quick and rewarding - the company clearly care a great deal about who they hire. The internal recruiter was excellent at providing quick and detailed feedback, and offered support through every step. Certainly the best interview experience I've had with any company.