Role: Engineering Manager
College: Not Specified
Interview Date: October 2023
Interview Type: Full-Time
Result: Rejected
Difficulty: Medium
Rounds: 6 rounds
Topics Asked: Behavioral, Leadership, Stakeholder Management, System Design, Coding, Project Experience
Experience:
The candidate applied through eBay Careers for an Engineering Manager role and had 6 interviews over a month. The overall experience was rated 4/5, though the candidate was ultimately rejected.
The process started with an HR call to discuss the role, team, background, and salary expectations, followed by an email to set up an initial screening with the hiring manager.
- Initial Screening Interview: This 45-minute interview with a hiring manager delved into the candidate's experience as a manager, technology background, team size managed, current and previous projects, and reasons for seeking a change. The hiring manager also explained the team and its goals. The candidate felt this round went well.
- Interview 1 (UX Designer Lead): This was a behavioral interview focusing heavily on stakeholder management and experience working with UX and product teams. Questions included: "Have you engaged directly with customers in any of your past projects?", "How do you receive feedback from your customers? How is it incorporated in engineering?", and "How do you handle disagreements among stakeholders?".
- Interview 2 (Technical Interview): This round covered both coding and system design. The coding question was a "straightforward" problem on Code Signals, requiring a switch case ladder or a hashmap, which the candidate finished in 5-7 minutes. The system design question involved evolving an existing payment system to allow refunds from a merchant.
- Interview 3 (Hiring Manager): Details not explicitly provided in the snippet, but typically for an EM role, this would involve deeper discussions on management philosophy, team building, strategic contributions, and alignment with the hiring manager's vision.
- Interview 4 (Leadership Interview): With another Engineering Manager from the same team, this interview focused on career development and leadership questions. Examples included: "Describe a project that you are extremely proud of.", "How do you manage low performers in your team?", "How do you handle a high performer?", "Why did you choose the EM path?", "What made you stick to it?", "What is the size of the team you are currently managing?", and "What do you think are the next steps for your career?".
- Interview 5 (Leadership Interview): This final leadership interview with a Senior EM from the team focused on past experience, starting with a request to explain the most complex project the candidate had been part of.
The candidate received feedback two days later, stating they went with another candidate, though the position remained open. The candidate noted that interviews weren't tough and interviewers were mostly nice.