The role was advertised on a jobsite with a contact number. I applied and shortly after was invited to complete a test program. I was given approximately a week to complete this and submit it for review. I was sent an agenda for the interview. The interview day was very relaxed and welcoming throughout. I initially met a few staff members for a chat in cafe from different levels in the organisation. After a brief tour of the offices, 2 senior devs described the work they were doing - this felt a bit rushed with little opportunity for questions or discussion of ideas. After a meeting with HR, I was asked to talk about my test project. They had set up the project all set up ready. No real technical questions, they mainly were looking at style, structure and talking through the decisions I made. Following this was a small pair programming test using TDD. You were given several minutes to read the exercise. Then, one member changed the requirements, the other wrote a new test to meet the requirements. I had to update the function to pass the test. This was then repeated. It was an easy exercise, but I really struggled as I had not experienced this kind of TDD test and was suffering interview stress. In hindsight, some rehearsal on my part would have been hugely beneficial to me. I received a rejection email a week or so later.

Fairly informal, around a round table so not too intimidating. In retrospect, however, I am disappointed. It transpires that employees are offered substantial bonuses for recruiting suitable staff. In the fourth year of my PhD I was not really in a position to fulfill this role adequately, but on paper looked good and the staff members concerned were over-keen to earn their bonuses. It wasn't going to end well. Incidentally, The company as a whole is really good, but I would not recommend the Skipton Belle Vue office to my worst enemy, due to the appalling, bullying management culture. No wonder they can't retain any skilled staff.