Was pursued by recruiter for over a year. When I was finally ready to interview, I went through two phone screens. First phone screen was smooth. The second phone screen went well half-way through. I later needed a hint to push through but finally came up with what I believe was a optimal solution. Unfortunately, the next day I was told that I did not clear because there are "other stronger candidates in the pipeline". I am not sure what went wrong: 1. fact that I needed a hint 2. or I was stuck for 5 min without the hint. The hint was not a solution - it was just to indicate that solution can be done in linear time. I was bummed to be rejected as I thought I did well and put in lot of effort to prepare. Good: recruiter personally contacting me immediately to inform that they will not pursue the interview. Bad: I disagree with how they evaluate candidates - if a person has a optimal solution and a good approach to solving the problem, I think they should be given an opportunity to proceed. An on-site would give a complete picture of the candidate and the company can then really compare with other candidates. Unfortunately, I have come to a conclusion that is a issue with all such companies like Airbnb, Facebook, etc when it comes to interviewing senior engineers. If you are a new-grad, you stand a better chance because you can spend the whole day solving leetcode problems and cracking their interviews. With a full-time job, its practically impossible to match the amount of effort a new-grad can put in. I have decided to now apply to companies that are more better suited to my profile and skills. I think I am a great software engineer - I just think the skills that such companies need may just not be the ones that I have and that is okay.