I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Wise
Interview
Wise seem like a good company and I have friends who work there, but I found their interview process appalling and incredibly disrespectful of both me and my time.
It started out ok, I had the screening call, then the first two stages of interview, all good.
It took them over a month to get back to me again. Eventually they realised their mistake and asked me to schedule the Product interview, so I sent my availability across. The recruiter only gave me 52 minutes notice for the next interview.
When I joined, only one of the two interviewers was there. He was everything you'd want from an interviewer: warm, personable, friendly and raising questions in an encouraging manner.
The second interviewer arrived 25 minutes late, mid snack, and took over the questioning. His tone was a lot more hostile and brusque, especially contrasted with the warmth and congeniality of the other interviewer. From this point on the questions I was asked were all about the Fintech industry, an area I know nothing about and I wasn't able to prepare for as I had such short notice before the interview.
I was pressed relentlessly for half an hour, then eventually I had enough and asked why I was being asked in-depth Product Manager questions for an Engineering Manager role. He said that they ask everybody this in case I ever move into a more Product-focused role, which frankly seems ridiculous. By this point we were 15 minutes over our allocated slot and the interview ended quite awkwardly.
I'm not sure who trains Wise's interviewers, perhaps the Stasi, but I would strongly recommend that you adapt your interview technique and begin to respect the time of your candidates a lot better.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Wise in May 2021
Interview
Apply online, and get invited to the interview with the hiring manager, brief overview about yourself and your knowledge in product. What is the product that you most proud of and what would you do differently.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is the product that you most proud of and what would you do differently.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Wise (Londres, Inglaterra) in May 2021
Interview
Had a phone screen done by recruiter.
First round was by a engineering manager. Mostly around what if scenarios and bit technical
Second round was with two engineer on scalability. One of them wasn't impressed from beginning with audio issues, other interviewer was fine. The outcome was mixed with good and bad. Second interview was with two more engineers about programming challenges. Regardless of result, they were very engaging, polite and made the discussion very interesting. The feedback were conveyed bit late but very detailed.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. Design a welcome page with live stats for marketing
2. Process messages/events from payment stream