Slack MTS interview experience

Background and Initial Contact

I applied for an MTS/SMTS Backend Engineer role at Salesforce a couple of months ago. After about 2 months, I was contacted by a Talent Coordinator. Things were a bit unusual from the start:

• The role I applied for no longer existed on the portal.
• No one from Talent Acquisition reached out to confirm my experience or explain the role, unlike most companies.

The Talent Coordinator directly scheduled a Hiring Manager round to assess my fit.

Hiring Manager Round

The interviewer was a Director of Engineering at Slack (US-based). We started with introductions, followed by behavioral questions. After that, we moved to a technical discussion.

Long Gap and Confusion

I assumed I was rejected after a three-week gap. However, another Talent Coordinator then reached out for a Problem Solving round. I received two different schedules from two different coordinators (1.5-hour vs. 1-hour round), and only by checking the interviewer's LinkedIn did I realize the role was actually for Slack, not Salesforce. I tried to follow up for clarity but received no response. Eventually, the 1.5-hour round was confirmed, and I joined without knowing the exact format or expectations.

Problem Solving Round (Nano Slack)

The interviewer explained the format:

• 20 minutes: Go through the Nano Slack codebase (a simplified Slack implementation) and ask questions.
• 1 hour: Implement missing functionalities based on provided requirements.
• 10 minutes: Scaling discussion and Q&A.

There were 4 requirements in total. I fully implemented 2 and provided a clear approach for the 3rd, ensuring all existing and new test cases passed. The interviewer was helpful when I got stuck.

Architecture Round

Two days later, I was contacted by a 4th Talent Coordinator saying I cleared the round and was being moved to the Architecture + Behavioral round. The Architecture round was conducted by a Staff Engineer.

The scenario given was vague, and I spent about 15-20 minutes asking clarifying questions, not entirely sure I grasped what was expected. I focused on a Jira-like integration and proposed a Pub/Sub notification system. We discussed various aspects of the design, and he took a screenshot of my design.

Final Outcome

Two days later, I received a notification that the Behavioral round was cancelled. Upon following up, I was told that the feedback from the Architecture round was not positive. I requested feedback but haven't received it. 15 days later, I received a rejection email.