I went through four interview rounds. 1. Recruiter interview (45 minutes) The first round was with the recruiter. He introduced the company, explained the role, and asked a few questions to understand my background and current situation. There were also some basic technical multiple-choice questions related to the role, nothing too difficult. One thing worth mentioning is that the recruiter stayed involved throughout the entire process, not just in this first interview. That made a big difference—I never felt like I was going through the process alone. ⸻ 2. System design interview (90 minutes) The second round was a system design interview. It was high-level but also quite tricky in parts. There were two interviewers, and they gave me a lot of freedom to design the system in my own way. They would occasionally interrupt to ask questions or challenge certain assumptions—sometimes even based on unrealistic scenarios—to see how I would react. I actually enjoyed this interview a lot. It felt like a real discussion rather than an exam. Given my experience with Kafka and distributed systems, I think I performed well, although they definitely pushed me to go deeper and justify my decisions. ⸻ 3. Coding interview The third round was a coding interview. The interviewer was very friendly, which helped reduce the pressure. I had to share my screen and solve three exercises, LeetCode-style (mostly array problems). This wasn’t my strongest performance, but I focused on staying calm, thinking out loud, and making my reasoning clear. That approach helped me a lot and kept the interview flowing. ⸻ 4. Cultural fit interview The final round was the cultural fit interview. My main advice here: be yourself. Don’t try to pretend or give “perfect” answers. The goal is to see if you align with the company’s culture. At some point, I just relaxed and spoke honestly about how I like to work, how I think, and how I approach problems. That actually felt like a relief, and luckily we were aligned. They asked questions about real-life situations, for example: • How did you handle your last production incident? • How do you prioritize during high-pressure situations? They’re really evaluating your seniority, your mindset, and how you approach problem-solving on a daily basis. This interview was challenging, but also very revealing. If your way of working doesn’t match their culture, it’s better to realize that early and go in a different direction.