Started with outreach from a HR representative calling to see if I was interested in applying. I sent resume, answered a *very* in depth questionnaire on my personality. and was asked to complete a coding question over the next few days. The whole process was great. Everyone was nice, polite but informal, I really did think I wanted to work there.
And that's where things started to get strange. I had about an hour long HR interview after submitting my code. Things were still pleasant, and was told they wanted to fly me to New York for in person interviews at the end. But, part of my work history is for a government contractor and I was told specifically to not bring that up. Suddenly my rep starts talking about the Snowden scandal and how Thoughtworks as a company they stood with him, which was odd considering it was completely out of left field. I listened and did my best to stay neutral on the matter.
Going in for interviews on site was a 2 day process. Day one was a presentation on the company and some on paper tests. Day two was much longer. Everyone was on a different schedule but there were about 4 or 5 interviews in total. Everything from presentations, to technical interviews, to team interviews, to personality discussions. I did my best and when I asked for feedback, got only positive remarks.
The personality discussion I think is where I faltered. Like I've said, everyone I met that day was extremely nice until that point. My interviewer here however, was abrasive and downright rude. I did my best to be polite and honest, but I went back to my hotel and cried after finishing that day. Which is absolutely outside of my personality. Regardless of your interviewer, expect to be grilled. They go over your answers to your personality questionnaire from the preliminary levels and ask you why you wrote what you did. And why you think that way. And why Thoughtworks should bother hiring someone that thinks that way. The only advice I'll offer is that they don't want to hear anything but the truth. Don't bother doing anything else. Finally, there was an exit interview.
The *worst* part of it was how they got back to me. The HR representative I'd been speaking to left me a voicemail. The rejection was incredibly unprofessional. She stuttered through the whole thing, said she had "bad news" without explaining, and then hung up without so much as a goodbye. I sent a follow up email thanking her for her time. About 3 months later I get contacted by *the same* recruiter to start the process over again. When I explained I'd already been through they apologized and said they still weren't interested and there had been a filing error.