### Home assignment
One of those tasks, where you spend 30 minutes writing the algorithm and 2 years more formatting the output string and trying to cover all the edge cases in the API.
The second part of home assignment is to describe drawbacks of provided API and propose a "better" version.
### Home assignment review
Since the home task is open ended and requires a review round where interviewers will provide an opinionated feedback on code style and local variables names you used in lambdas, which looks like a waste of everybody's time as in real world code styles should be defined on a team/group level, enforced automatically and never be the subject of argues at code review stage.
The second part of assignment could be ignored by interviewers, if they are too picky about the code passed all the checks enforced by linter and having above 95% code cov.
### Design Session.
Design arbitrary system remotely related to Wolt business domain. Interviewers are not very keen on answering questions related to non-functional requirements, most likely because this part has never been thought through and the interviewers have the goal of seeing how the candidate solves a specific engineering problem, and not engaged in system design.
The problem itself can be narrowed down to a database design, to check if the candidate can write sql queries and have ever heard about write skew, phantom reads, etc.
### Overall experience
First of all, I am against of homework assignments that do not benefit the candidate, and Wolt has just one such assignment. I believe that in such cases, if a company wants to use a candidate's personal time, it should be prepared to pay at an overtime rate.
In terms of communication, the interview team made a good impression, most likely, under other circumstances, I would have assessed them very positively.
The recruiter also behaved professionally, kept up to date and answered questions in a timely manner.
In general, it is difficult to say anything good or bad. It's bike-shedding.
During the interview the emphasis was on basic knowledge, which should be considered a "default package" for candidates with experience and is most likely a signal that the level of compensation in the company is below the market average.
### A word to candidates
I'd recommend considering Wolt if you prefer home assignments to live coding or if you are on a visa and need a job.
I'm not quite sure that for senior candidates with expertise, working in Wolt will be interesting enough in terms of challenges and compensation.
