I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at The Mind Company in Oct 2025
Interview
I was invited to schedule a screen with the Head of People, which went well and felt positive. After that, I was asked to complete an assessment, which was a huge red flag. The assessment felt less like an evaluation and more like a way to extract free labor and ideas from candidates. I would strongly caution future applicants before spending time on it. To make things worse, it seems candidates are not taken seriously unless they are already users of the app, which was never clearly stated upfront. Overall, the process felt misleading and disrespectful of my time.
The interview process with Elevate Labs was incredibly thoughtful and well-structured. Each question was intentional, giving me the opportunity to showcase my experience while also learning more about the role. The case study was fair and reflective of the actual challenges I would face in the position. I also appreciated the space to ask questions, which left me feeling confident and excited about the opportunity.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked thoughtful, situational questions that pushed me to think strategically about real challenges, rather than just reciting past experiences. One that stood out was how I would prioritize competing growth opportunities with limited resources, a question that felt both realistic and fair for the role.
The interview process at Elevate Labs was straightforward but thorough. It started with an online coding test focusing on cloud automation and networking basics, followed by a technical video interview where I discussed my past projects and troubleshooting scenarios. The final round was a behavioral interview with the hiring manager, where they assessed my problem-solving approach and cultural fit. Overall, the process felt well-organized and professional.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I explained a situation during my final year project where we faced latency issues in a multi-region AWS deployment. I described how I optimized the VPC peering setup, used Route 53 for latency-based routing, and enabled CloudFront caching to reduce response time by 40