Kaizen Gaming Interview Experience For Backend Software Engineer

I recently had an interview with a big betting company here in Greece, for the position of Backend Software Engineer.

The process

The journey started when a recruiter sent me a message through Linkedin telling me they had a job for this company. I was thrilled, as this was a company I tried to enter for many years.

After that, we set up the first (out of three) interview with HR. Questions were easy, well defined, with respect and understanding, and in an amiable tone. I liked that, so I tried to relax. We talked about everything regarding the requirements and my perks and agreed to pretty much everything. I got nice feedback and proceeded to the next interview stage.

At the second interview, which was the technical one, challenging my skills and knowledge for this position, I started very scared and nervous, as the questions were theoretical in the beginning and theory is not my best card. I knew most of them while answering directly and with honesty when I failed to answer the others, showing my interest in learning about the answers, even in an interview environment. In the programming/technical part, I scored 100/100 on all of the tasks given to me.

The HR informed me the feedback from this stage was very good, so we proceeded to stage 3.

The final interview was a value fit interview with the team manager they were about to place me. It went well, we were getting along and finding common ground in what I could do for and with the team. We matched and I thought I got the job.

And this is where the confusion begins…

One week later, the HR team contacted me telling me they were about to send me the final offer, but suddenly a very urgent position at another team with a bigger need to be filled came up, so I had to pass the 3rd interview for a second time. I was annoyed because (from what they told me) I had the job, but they reassured me that the 3.2 interview would be mostly get-to-know, as I had very good feedback from the past interviewers already.

The third interview didn’t go as planned. We did not vibe with the interviewers. They asked me questions I was not ready to answer. Some of them were relevant to the interview, others not so much. I closed the call and the first thing I thought was the job was gone. And it was.

The outcome

Two days later, I was sent an email telling me that we would not proceed. No explanations, no nothing. Just the automated email everyone receives after giving the resume. I contacted HR. They told me they were sorry for the inconvenience and gave me some feedback about why I was rejected. The reasons were

• lack of seniority
• lack of motivation

My first thought? “What?”… I had aced the technical tests and passed every interview with a very good score. I have been sending CVs to this company for three years now. How can you tell me I lack either of these two? So I asked HR if she could contact the previous manager, to get into his team. She assured me that the previous manager did not see any of the above problems but in the meantime, his position would be filled with someone more experienced. She told me we would contact her this summer.

My thoughts

Well, to be honest, I was a little offended by the way they treated me. I mean, it is okay to get another person for the job. And it is ok to want a more senior/experienced person for the position. But why can you just tell me, and let me go through 3 hours of interviews, losing so much time? Why get my hopes up telling me you were about to send me an offer while the odds were against me? Why do I lack technical skills if I scored 100/100 on the technical interview?

Maybe it’s the rejection causing me this feeling, or maybe they made a mistake indeed. I just remind myself it is okay to fail… I never said I was the perfect candidate. I was just honest, happy I got myself to the third interview and most of all I tried my best.

Maybe next time.