I had an initial phone screening with one of the recruiters. The interview was a typical phone screen but they recruiter showed up 10 minutes late and couldn't stop yawning throughout the call. They proceeded to ghost me after the call for several weeks before letting me know they went with a different candidate. It felt pretty unprofessional.

I applied at the request of an internal recruiter after they reached out to me via email and a subsequent phone screen. From there, I had a 30-minute interview with the hiring manager, followed by a week-long take-home evaluation. The take-home involved loading CSV files into a SQLite database, writing analytical queries, and documenting my pipeline design—all submitted as a GitHub repository. After submitting, I was scheduled for a 2-hour panel interview with members of the team I’d be joining, stakeholders I’d be serving, and leadership I’d be working under. About 10 days after my panel interview, I received an offer. Unfortunately, the compensation was not competitive with my current role. Accepting the job would have meant forfeiting $21K in nearly vested 401K contributions and $12K in annual bonuses. When I requested adjustments in base salary or RSUs to offset this, I was denied due to internal equity policies. Final Thoughts: Based on my interview experience, Ibotta seems like a solid place to work, and I enjoyed speaking with the team. However, their compensation policies appear rigid, and their inflexibility in negotiations raises concerns about upward mobility and future compensation growth for established employees. Final Verdict: Neutral (Leaning Negative) If Ibotta had been open to negotiation, this would have been a neutral-to-positive experience. However, because the compensation was not competitive and they showed zero flexibility, my experience leans negative from a career perspective.