Overall, it was a good experience for me, as it was my first interview in Silicon Valley. Everyone was very smart and helpful along the way. I initially had a recruiter reach out to me via LinkedIn, a surreal experience for sure. I spent an hour chatting with my recruiter about the position and LinkedIn. I expressed some concern over relocation and she was wonderful explaining relocation and how they eased that pain. There was a lull, as it was around the holidays, but we ended up scheduling a two 45-minute phone interviews. They both called on time and we went through my portfolio, as well as some general questions about my design process. They each talked about different things, which was great. I was asked to come on-site, and again I was hesitant about wasting time if I wasn't able to move. My recruiter actually put me in touch with another designer who moved from my home state, and we ended up talking for an hour. The extra effort was great and convinced me I wanted to do the on-site. During this time, my recruiter quit and I was passed on to a new one. That transition went smoothly as it could. I was given a week to complete a design exercise. I spent 8-10 hours on it and in retrospect, should have done more. After some travel delays, I made it out to Mountain View for the interview. I was greeted after signing in and was given a very quick tour. I was then set up in a room to give an hour long presentation about myself, my work, and the design exercise. There were about 15-20 people in the room, along with some remote folks. There were a lot of questions back and forth. I knew they had time to prepare their thoughts about where my design exercise failed, wish I'd been prepared too! Then we went directly into a more casual lunch 1-on-1. I wanted more time with this, as I was really getting to learn more about the everyday life as a designer at LinkedIn. I was then in a room for four back to back 45 minute interviews with senior designers from different departments. It was a mixed bag, as some I felt more comfortable with than others. The first interview was via a video conference, while the other 3 were in person. We spent a lot of time going over my design exercise. Every person used the whole 45 minutes and by the last interviewer, I was pretty exhausted. About a week passed, and I was given a phone call that I didn't have enough experience for what they were looking for. I appreciated the phone call and feedback. They said to stay in touch and reach out in 6 months-year, which I found encouraging.

It was pretty intense. It was 4 rounds - started with a recruiter phone call lasting 30 mins, then 2 back to back 45 minute interviews with designers, then a one week design exercise, than a full day onsite with a 1 hour presentation and 4 1-1s with designers. While it was a pretty meaty process, I really enjoyed it! Every person I talked to during the process was super friendly and all my interviews really felt like conversations rather than 'interviews'. It was my favorite interview experience I've had with a company. They really want to get a sense of who you are, both as a person and as a designer. You should be able to articulate your end to end design process, how your designs add value, and defend all your design decisions.