Overall interview process was quite smooth and fast. One Skype session with HR, one Skype screening (coding + general questions), then on-site part. The latter one consists of 3 sections: coding, system design, and systems internals (troubleshooting + general Linux/networking questions). The level of every interview was adequate for the role and comparing to other companies in the industry, not too easy, not freaking hard. After the interview set, there were talks with every team, they were mostly describing what they do, what technologies they use and what the current problems are. The biggest value of such discussions is an opportunity to ask people why they love the company and what they dislike. People are quite open and free to share their opinion. The most interesting thing about the on-site interview part is a presence of the so-called "moderator" at every section - the person who joined the company recently. They do not participate in the interview process, mostly listening and looking how it goes (may help if some question is unclear, I didn't need it though). However, they have a vote when the decision being made. Sounds like a good idea, even big companies suffer from a very opinionated interviewer's feedback nowadays, this helps to make a better balance. Got decision and offer at the end of the same day. All the interview process took less than a week + ~1 month for UK visa process.

The first stage through HackerRank was fairly trivial. The one to one phone interview not so much. They are a fast moving company and the interview process reflects this; you will need a speedy, knowledgable mindset to fit in there. If you are unable to present a trivial solution they are seeking in about one minute, and end up being hand walked through the solution, they probably aren't going to hire you, which is what happened with me. This is disappointing, as in retrospect, I know my stuff, but just didn't really apply it accurately (and quickly) to their questions. Or, possibly, I didn't apply it in the way they expected and wanted. However, I specifically wanted to code solutions in Python, but yet in one question, it was hinted that this would be easier in the shell. But that's not necessarily where I wanted to be in terms of my employment (this is actually where I want to be moving away from). So using shell scripts, with grep and regex, to parse millions of lines of CSV files, to generate histograms, is not necessarily going to be interesting work (a presumptuous statement, no doubt, but this is the opinion I've taken away from the interview). After reading their feedback regarding my interview, I found it somewhat constructive but peppered with presumptuousness. They expected more from me, considering my background, but at the same time, I expected more from them. As another review has said, the further away your skill set is from their very narrow specific set of requirements, the more friction you'll probably encounter during the interview process, and having reflected on some of the questions presented, I feel the role may be more about data processing rather than infrastructure engineering. My overall opinion of Smarkets is that they avoid wasting time during the recruitment process, both theirs and yours, which is good (thank you!). But I also feel that they believe they are bigger, better and smarter than what they really are. A comparison was made by the interviewer that Smarkets > Facebook. Make what you will of that.