If you see an enquiry email for an open SDET role, do not reply. Drop that email to the bin as fast as you can.
Process: Initial call with HR, a take home assessment, tech call to explain the assessment.
Assessment was given just before Christmas and I was asked to complete it before Dec 31st. Thought this would be an urgent hire so I jeopardised my holidays. Tech call happened second week of Jan, I was asked to explain the project on the call and additionally given a coding exercise on call which I completed and got the output. The team on the call wasn't satisfied on how I did it because they wanted it to be done "their way".
I was partially ghosted after that. After a few follow-ups, the HR asked me to wait for a few days, and on further follow up, I was asked to wait another 2 weeks as they wanted to interview more candidates. Later, I was told the hiring manager wanted to discuss my profile with upper management and then they will let me know. But I never heard back.
The entire process painted me a picture of a QA team and a hiring manager who doesn't know their goals or what they want. At some point I felt they were outsourcing their tasks as take home assessments.