The interview process was really great. Everyone I spoke with was professional, really smart, easy-going and well-prepared. It didn't feel like an interrogation like a lot of interviews, rather like a conversation between colleagues. I felt like I had a great idea of the culture of my team and the company more broadly at the end of my interview process (1 phone screen, 1 interview with the hiring manager, and one 3-hour block where I spoke to my different stakeholders and cross-functional teammates).

HR interview, followed by an interview with the UX manager and designer, then a 1 hour real time design test via zoom, then another interview with a couple designers and a product manager. The HR interview was very professional, however the HR team was not aligned with what the team wanted, which led to some animosity during the team interview. HR communicated they needed someone to help with communication with their APAC team; when I brought up my experience with this during the team interview, the team got really defensive and said that they didn't need any help in that area at all. The inexperience of the team really stood out when they questioned my contract experience, saying I would rely on the team too much and would not be able to take initiative. Anyone with experience knows that contractors need to be able to ramp up in a 2 week time period without relying on others to take initiative. This team was clearly very inexperienced in the hiring process. Faulting someone for contract experience in this economy, when studios have been closing left and right and moving towards a contracting model is ridiculous. The team also were not able to take feedback in a constructive way; they asked what I would change to the UX of the product, and the team took my feedback really personally and seemed to get really upset. Again, this really speaks to the inexperience of the team. I rated this interview difficult, because I was advised by HR to focus on a certain topic, and that was clearly not what the team wanted.