It's a startup with their own opinions of hiring process, and they published a blog explaining in detail how they hire people, you can find it on the internet. Still I want to share some experiences of mine for a backend engineer's role. - The process began with a take-home challenge, it was a not very complex program to implement, but the description also listed a handful of bonus points, if you are a perfectionist, it could take a lot of time. - Next step was to meet with the team, PM and CTO, etc. The people were friendly and the discussions were relaxing. - The final round was a 2-day trial work, which they claimed to reflected their typical work, but I don't think that's very true, what I needed to do was a challenge with a set of requirements which they admitted to be a lot for just 2 days, what they expected of me was to do my best. In the end, I needed to present what I had done. As the workload was significant for the given time, I was occupied and didn't have much time to talk with people and get to know more about the company, rendering the experience a bit disappointing. Got positive feedback after one week, but we couldn’t reach to an agreement on the compensation. My advice is to mention your salary expectation in the very beginning, because what they can offer might not be as competitive as what they claim in the job descriptions, it's just average in the market. What's more, they're not willing to provide any equity unless you play a "more senior" role, like an engineer with 4-year experience is not eligible to share the cake. Knowing this is an early-stage startup, a lack of equity is a huge downside. Despite their confidence in their means of evaluating candidates, I find the whole process somehow controversial, especially the 2-day unpaid trial work, I doubt whether it's legal, even if it is, it's definitely not something convenient and makes you comfortable. Besides, it doesn't necessarily reflect their typical work, if their planning is to have a lot of goals that are impossible to deliver all within the time limit, and you should do as much as possible, think twice before you apply. Overall the people were nice and professional, but the hiring process is too time-consuming and I don't think it's worth that amount of time. Unless it's really your dream company, there are many better choices.