This is for position with ByteDance primarily focused on Lark.
1st: Email from coordinator and call with recruiter. Recruiter is nice but can’t answer any of your questions. First big red flag.
2nd: Call with “peer” in China. My interviewer didn’t seem to be doing anything or know what this position would do. The interviewer spoke in big generalities when I asked about specific tasks, goals, roadmaps. I don’t think they had any real software experience or knew how to take a product to market.
Red flags: My interviewer took the call in a loud cafe, with no noise cancelation. After 5 minutes wasted I had to ask them to go outside because I couldn’t hear them at all. Later on, when I asked, my interviewer had no idea about what the role will be graded on “You will be judged by Lark’s success in the US” is not an answer you should give without any metrics or other direction when pressed further. Revenue? Installs? User growth? None of these metrics crossed their mind as I brought each up and they appeared confused.
Last red flag: my interviewer told me there is no defined value proposition or user research on why people might want to use the software compared to existing competitors. No defined marketing plan or budget either. Yet they want to “launch” the product this year in the US.
Clearly a waste of time and a late night interview.