Confluent - bad interview experience

New
flipkazon

New

flipkazon
Jul 23, 2021 42 Comments

Recently had an interview with confluent (India), the interview topics/interviewers per se it was ok. But the process or decision making per se, its WORST than a mediocre startup. Even saw this in one of the linkedin post as well. Also in blind saw another comment about down-levelling ??!!

My interviews went really well, solved all the problems without help from the interviewers, HM too had positive impression initially. Had to followup with recruiter for the feedback, recruiter never cared about updating. Got update that tech rounds were positive, moving to HM and collected pay details. The HM round went fine as well. But again the lazy ass recruiter didn't update me. Had to follow up.

The recruiter came back after a week and said we are moving ahead with other candidates. Seriously, WTF?

Apart from lethargic updates, I think the recruiter is not at the fault. It's the management, very poor in terms of setting up the process and decision making. I had high regard of confluent, but not any more.

When everything went well, why rejecting at the very end without giving a reason? Sure, confluent can reject/hire anyone, but the feedback should be clear, since I've spent my time and shared all the pays docs etc. At least for that tell the candidates why you are rejecting them. Total waste of time with assignments, interviews.

TC: 57L

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TOP 42 Comments
  • Amazon
    wildfish

    Go to company page Amazon

    wildfish
    Similar experience. Got confirmation that all feedbacks were positive and hiring committee has approved.
    After collecting documents, I haven't heard anything for last 20 days. Whenever i ping, the recruiter says it's in TC approval phase
    Jul 23, 2021 7
  • Juniper
    c0nman

    Go to company page Juniper

    c0nman
    Getting an impression any unicorn when it sets up offices in India this becomes the case. Not sure if it’s the same in the US
    Jul 23, 2021 8
  • Media.net / Eng
    cric07

    Go to company page Media.net Eng

    cric07
    Many small companies seem to be doing this. Maybe they cannot afford to pay you or just want cheap. I have seen similar posts about Rubrik too. So its something maybe to also do with their pockets.
    Which is why in the intro call itself I tell recruiter my salary expectations and only if ok I proceed ahead. But then again many recruiters promise all shit to just get in leads and fill the hiring pipeline. As such they dont care much.
    Jul 23, 2021 2
    • A recruiter from SAP reached out and we’re on the first call which went a bit longer than usual discussing the teams and the levels they’re looking for. The recruiter asked me my TC and I blurted out a rounded off number (I know it’s my fault). Recruiter politely said, “I don’t think SAP will be able to match your TC requirements for this role”. Felt sad but happy that I didn’t waste time with them.
      Jul 23, 2021
    • Media.net / Eng
      cric07

      Go to company page Media.net Eng

      cric07
      Yes that is amazing. Has once happened with Uber too when I was a fresh grad. That they couldn’t beat my current offer and said if its okay to discontinue the process.
      Jul 23, 2021
  • Media.net / Eng
    cric07

    Go to company page Media.net Eng

    cric07
    This is a new trend it seems. Cloudera had called me a few months back. When i told salary expectations on intro call they politely backed out. Its good at least we didnt waste each others time.
    Jul 23, 2021 1
    • New
      flipkazon

      New

      flipkazon
      OP
      Yeah, at least what cloudera did was good, instead of wasting time.
      Jul 23, 2021
  • Oracle
    newgradgo

    Go to company page Oracle

    newgradgo
    I'm a new grad from one of the top tier institutes in India.

    Confluent India has an even worse university recruiting team. The presentation organized by the university recruiters across different colleges was a complete mess. They couldn't elaborate on how the compensation can increase manifolds if the company IPOs in the coming months. Also, there was no discussion on teams that operate from India. No discussion on the kind of work/tech a new-grad could get either.

    As a consequence, the placement cell of the most colleges gave Confluent India a much later slot for selecting students. By then, most of the top students got selected in other companies. They didn't even get a chance to interview at Confluent even though most of them cleared their fairly easy online assessment.

    The company handed a good CTC to absolute average students from no name departments (Not that I'm jealous of those students but there should be atleast some form of meritocracy at institutes of this level). The hiring bar was also very low.
    Jul 29, 2021 7
    • Oracle
      newgradgo

      Go to company page Oracle

      newgradgo
      No they didn't. And even if they went, they would have received poor slots. That's a wise decision from them tbh. But they ruined the only chance they had until now to hire top students from top institutes as far as I know from the placement cells of colleges. As IPOFever said, there will not be any IPO advantage from next time either
      Aug 5, 2021
    • Pay has normalized now at Confluent, pay still top tier but can't stand out. No more IPO bump.
      Aug 5, 2021