Some context: I am a currently employed software developer making over $80k/year with several years of enterprise Java and relational database experience. I applied online for the Programmer Analyst position at Penske Truck Leasing in Reading, Pa. a few weeks ago. The hiring system interface seemed antiquated and there were too many steps, but the e-mail notifications showing my application status (received, in process, etc.) were nice. Got a cold call a day or two later from a developer who began asking me textbook Java questions such as abstract class vs. interface, what is a finally block, when is a finally block not reached, can you store heterogeneous objects in a collection, what are annotations, what is synchronization, etc. Also, did I know Spring, XMLBeans, UDDI, etc. SQL questions included outer vs. inner join. After the technical stuff there was a brief section of soft skill type questions. After that it was open to my questions. A few things I learned: there are a lot of long timers working there. The interviewer said the most junior developer in their group had been there 4 years. Interviewer himself had put in over a decade, and he sounded young (late 20s/early 30s). They do allow telecommuting, but only one day a week, and only after a proving period of at least 6 months. I felt I answered most of the questions to the satisfaction of the interviewer (and even went above and beyond on some), as he seemed to provide positive cues and feedback. Unfortunately, no callback and today an e-mail saying I was passed on. I'm from a Java EE rather than a Spring background, so maybe that was a strike against me. The nice thing is they tell you in an e-mail you didn't make it, which is more than most companies do today. Overall, neutral experience. Always strange to feel you did well in an interview only to be turned down. They asked about some things that weren't on my resume to boot. If Spring knowledge is a hard and fast requirement, for instance, don't phone people who don't list it among their skills. Also, drop the 'gotcha' questions that most developers don't deal with in their day to day.