The process began with informal coffee with several engineering leaders to discuss the company and opportunity. We had a very open discussion about the state of the company, its recent changes, its technology stack, and its engineering culture. I was initially skeptical of this approach, because it didn't match the patterns I was used to. At nearly every other company the process begins with a technical test to ensure you're not wasting their employees' time; I'd accepted that "distrust by default" as a given. Tapad's inverted approach, however, made it much easier for me to interview the company and credibly communicated how invested they are in talent acquisition. (Of course, they were also able to vet me through this process, so it was mutually beneficial.) Based on that conversation, I continued to an on-site. Tapad quickly arranged the loop; other companies had multi-day scheduling latencies. The on-site technical questions were straightforward and aligned with developers' day-to-day work; there weren't any low-signal brainteaser/puzzle/obscure algorithm questions. Tapad turned around the feedback quickly and we quickly scheduled two more follow-ups; again, the fast scheduling and feedback loop helped. While I didn't accept the offer, throughout the process Tapad was transparent and eager to get me all of the information I needed to evaluate the opportunity. Even after I declined, we had productive, no-pressure conversations that helped us debug exactly where we disagreed. Disclosure: Tapad suggested that I write a review (so I'm not anonymous to Tapad), but they did not control pre-approve or control the content of this post. I came in pre-qualified through my adtech background but had no referrals or knowledge of Tapad prior to the interview process.

Smooth interview, really. The recruiter was very kind and supportive, and she assisted me with all of my concerns and difficulties throughout the pipeline. Engineers are incredibly friendly and easy-going, making conversation and reasoning with them during interviews a breeze.