The interview process can be described as so: Initial interview with a HR person, a second interview with a talent manager, the third stage is either submitting an already completed full stack project or performing a "coding challenge" (you are told to make a full stack system and get it to MVP), and finally an interview with the hiring manager and a panel consisting of current employees before you get a decision. A tl;dr of my experience is that they are unprofessional/dishonest plus they flip flop from 'we are a huge player because we are owned by MasterCard' to 'we are an expanding startup' whenever it's convenient.
The initial interview is your typical initial interview with any other company. They tell you about the position, you give your background, you ask questions - the norm.
The second interview was largely the same as the first interview. Same questions, same process. However this time the interviewer was rude and unprofessional, but they at least had some answers. Regarding the unprofessionalism, it started when I was asked for my salary expectations. Personally, I like to divulge the information once I can get a better read of the company, the day-to-day work, and what the typical salary is that they give to current employees. I was told that they do not give that information out to applicants. I was asked again for my salary expectations and as I was prefacing my personal range, I was cut off multiple times, being asked (paraphrasing) 'I need a number for us to continue' - which is both rude and unprofessional given that I had expressed that I would be giving that information. After I reached the point of giving my salary expectations, I was told it was too high, which is refreshing to see that at least they gave you a straight answer from the beginning. However, they went on to tell me the range of what they pay their employees at my position... which is curious since 5 minutes prior it was information they don't share. So it definitely felt misleading and that there was no honesty between us. Also it's worth mentioning that they do not negotiate offers, period.
Continuing on the unprofessionalism, during the introduction of the position they talked less on the position and more on who their parent company is. They mention "MasterCard" more than "Ethoca" and bang the drum on how big the MasterCard network is. They went as far as to rag on my current employer since I was part of a smaller company (albeit that they are basically the same size as Ethoca themselves). When it came to the compensation, it was no longer about MasterCard but about Ethoca, and the TC became 'holistic' and that part of the compensation is working with the MasterCard brand. I don't feel like I need to comment further about what's wrong with that mentality.
By the end of it, we had a couple of other exchanges that felt like the interviewer was making it way to personal and it felt like there was a competition. At the end they still extended the offer to go to the next stage with the "coding challenge". I say that with quotes because they want a full stack app in an "MVP" stage claiming it takes a minimum of 4-6 hours. As others have mentioned on Glassdoor, if you've done quality work before, it does not only take 4-6 hours to complete the ask -- and to ask that so early in the interview without knowing much about anything the position entails. Also just to mention, and MVP is going beyond the scope of a "coding challenge".
My feedback if they are reading this is: be more professional first and foremost, there is no reason to cut someone off or disparage their current working situation, especially if the TC is very similar and that your company is still a start up. The second feedback would be don't have an identity crisis: don't forget to speak about the company while drumming for MasterCard. Yes MC is a huge company - but I am not talking to MC, and you are not offering MC money, so it's more important to talk about who you are before selling me dreams about the parent company.
