I applied for an open engineering role and was quickly moved to the next stage, where I received a complex take-home challenge to design a serverless notification platform, including a detailed write-up, technical diagram, and a video presentation. After submitting my work, I received a generic rejection email stating the role was filled, with no feedback or review of my solution.
Through independent research, I discovered other engineers had been given the exact same challenge and experienced the same generic rejection and lack of review. The process gave the impression that the company may be collecting free design work from candidates rather than genuinely hiring.
Advice to future candidates: Be cautious about investing significant, unpaid time on detailed technical assignments, especially when there is no clear process for reviewing submissions or providing feedback.