I first discussed the position with the hiring manager (SVP), then was invited in for a panel interview. It was roughly three hours, with three different groups of people. I chatted with the engineering team I'd be working with, the UX team, and the hiring manager.

If I had one word to describe the interview process at Ancestry it would be: Classy. The 1st Step was a phone screening by a first-class Talent Recruiter based out of California named Dorris. She is the perfect combination of being direct in truly vetting you out as a candidate and finding out your passions and then wanting to help you achieve your goals. I felt a bit intimidated at first, but by the time it was all said and done, it's obvious that Dorris knows exactly what she's doing and she does it really well. The 2nd Step was a phone screening by the Hiring Manager. He called to further explain the position details and asked any critical questions in order to move forward to in-person interviews. He hit every point on my checklist as far as opportunity for growth and day-to-day responsibilities. The 3rd Step was in-person interviews at Ancestry HQ in Lehi, Utah. They basically have you there for the entire morning block (plus some) and you meet with a handful of either stakeholders or managers up the chain. If you are hoping to find a company with good culture, do anything possible to get to the in-person interviews and you will leave with a hungering for the culture there. I know I sure did. (We even had a fire/fire alarm go off during the interviews and they handled the entire situation really well and made me feel comfortable the entire time.) The 4th (and final) Step, in this case, were a series of phone calls with the VP and SVP of Product. It was neat to see how much they trusted the system and their employees because the calls were mainly character check-points rather than drilling me on Agile Development processes or how to manage teams, etc. It made it short and sweet, which was nice for both sides of the table. Then came the waiting game, hoping for the offer. You can tell they did their homework on competitive wages and benefits because the offer they presented made for an easy "yes". That showed class as well because it was less about games and bargaining and more about "let's make this happen". I believe the interview process can say a lot about a company, and Ancestry showed such class, respect, and integrity that I had zero doubt it was where I wanted to take my career for hopefully the next decade plus. And from what I hear, it only gets better so I'm excited to finally dive in and help grow Ancestry's amazing business.