I cleared the first round, which was a live coding session. The interviewer was very supportive, and I was able to solve the problems successfully. In the second round with a Ukrainian interviewer, out of 90 minutes, around 60 minutes were spent on theoretical questions. I used the remaining 30 minutes to explain my system design thoroughly. Despite this, the HR feedback was disheartening. The reason mentioned for rejection was that I had “zero production experience in GoLang.” I had actually shared my 6 months of GoLang experience during the interview, and I successfully explained a saga design pattern. In my system design, I chose a graph database for storing user data, but I forgot the exact name (Neo4j) when asked. It felt frustrating that after 1.5 hours of discussion, the focus seemed to be only on a few minor points rather than the overall performance and understanding demonstrated throughout the interview.

The HR contacted me via LinkedIn with a link to complete the HR screening interview. Then, a live coding session with a senior engineer on SOLID principles, followed by a cultural fit interview.