Interviewing as a Foreign Software Engineer
A long journey with Twitter
I interviewed with Twitter a couple of months ago for a Software Engineering position. In this article, I relate my experience on the process that I went through during 1 month and a half of phone interviews. The goal of this article is not to give tips to job seekers or to talk about the interview questions, but to inform them and hopefully, to inspire Twitter and other companies to improve their recruiting procedure.
To understand the interviewing process that I went through with Twitter, you must understand my situation.
I just got my Master’s Degree of Engineering in Computer Science in Belgium. I was looking for a job, mainly in the Silicon Valley. I didn’t have any Visa and needed Twitter to provide me with one or to direct me to their offices in London if it was not possible.
I started interviewing with Twitter for an Entry-Level Software Engineering position on the 12th of May 2014. I had just received an email from a recruiter who wanted me to complete a form and an online coding assessment via Codility. The form was short and focused on understanding my interests in Twitter, while at the same time gathering other information about myself, such as if I was willing to relocate and if I needed a Visa. The coding task was not hard and was the filter to go through to get the first phone interview.
I was contacted the same day to provide dates and times for a phone interview meaning that I successfully passed the coding assessment. Soon after, another recruter contacted me with the details of my first interview with an engineer. I was slightly nervous since it was my first phone interview but everything went well, and I was glad to be contacted a few days later and asked to conduct another one. They wanted to gather more data points and understand my interests further so that they could direct me to a team where I could fit in.
The second interview went fine and a week later or so, I thought that I received the email that I was waiting for. I was invited to the HQ for on-site interviews! As I was reading through the email, I sensed that something wasn’t right. They asked me for a few dates when I was available. They didn’t seem to remember that I was not located in the US and that a whole trip had to be planned. Indeed, when I emailed them to know how to proceed, they replied that they had forgotten and that they would set up one more phone interview with the manager of the team that I would join. If everything went fine, they would fly me to San Francisco. I must say that I was a bit disappointed that I had to remind them of my situation while I had already specified it in my cover letter and in the form.
I therefore took my third phone interview. It went great, it was my best interview and I figured that if they accepted me before, they would want to fly me now. After a few days, I received an email. To my disappointment, it was not to get me on site. The recruiter made a mistake. It happens that they were 2 engineers with the exact same name in the company, and I had interviewed with the wrong one. Even though everybody makes mistakes, I was really disappointed by them. I hoped that they would make a decision based on this one but they did not. I had to take a fourth interview, with the actual manager of the team. The process started to be drawn out, and this was before an on-site interview had even taken place!
So here I was, on my fourth interview. It was ok, not great, not bad. Since the recruiter told me before that it was the last one, I was waiting for a definitive email. To my disappointment, that was still not it. Now, the recruiter asked for a transcript of my Degree. I was somewhat shocked, it seemed like the first thing to ask for and I figured that, if Twitter hadn’t asked at the beginning of the process, it is because they were not interested in my grades. I was really starting to wonder if and when I would ever have this on-site interview.
I sent my transcript and waited once more. Since it is not the same system as in the US, the recruiter asked me to phone them to explain how the grades work. At the end of the call, she told me that the manager I talked to was eager to fly me to San Francisco and that she would explain my transcript to him. I waited for a few days, but the email was not coming. I decided to revive the process and asked how it was going on their end. Following my question, I finally had the email that I was waiting for, but unfortunately, not the answer that I was hoping for and the experience ended there for me.
The whole process lasted for about 1 month and a half. I don’t criticize their choice not to take me but the process that I had to go through. It was really protracted. Furthermore, the steps were not clear and they seemed to add new ones repeatedly. I really felt disadvantaged as a foreigner. I understand that they need to be more certain before flying foreigners to San Francisco since they have to pay for the trip. However, they could have suggested to interview me in London, which would have been far less expensive. I think that face-to-face interviews are an opportunity to really show who you are and your strengths as a human being apart from your technical skills. Finally, when rejected, I asked to know what eventually influenced their decision to reject me, so I could learn from that. I never got an answer.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that due to the time zone difference between California and Belgium, communicating can be a difficult task. However, Twitter always replied to my emails promptly and always found a schedule for the phone interview that suited my agenda. Furthermore, all engineers and recruiters I spoke to were all really nice and friendly.
This aim of this article is not to take anything away from Twitter. I am sure that it is a great company, but I think that they just need to review their interviewing process, especially for foreigners. Silicon Valley is the most popular area for software engineers and many people dream of working there. Engineers are scarce and always in high demand in the Valley. It is in the interest of the companies to attract the best, and this starts at the interviewing process.
