throwaway222333

Thanks for your perspective on this. I'm earlier in my career by a good bit, but not new to the whole gig by any means now (12 years in). 2 years ago I wanted to change it up and looked on the job market. Ended up applying to a large company that makes exercise equipment, and the first technical interview was outsourced to a completely unaffiliated party based out of Russia. They proceeded to ask the same garbage FAANG style algorithm questions, I just half-heartedly dismissed the interview partway through because why should I waste my time with these stupid questions if you're not going to give me the time to ask questions from someone who works at the company.

It's such a completely bizarre practice, and honestly insulting to a degree. I get that there's a huge influx of applicants at larger companies, however it's absurd to comply with this garbage structure where you can't even ask important questions to decide if you actually want to work there. I applied to a different job afterwards and once they told me they used that company as well, I refused to continue the interview process.

Worked out in my case, I ended up somewhere far better than either of those companies. I just can't bring myself to respect companies that treat prospective employees in this manner, it's crap.