Sup tech fam! Grab your favorite energy drink and settle in, because I'm about to spill all the tea about my wild ride interviewing at Gusto. You know Gusto - the folks making payroll sexy (is that even possible? Apparently yes!).
The LinkedIn DM That Started It All
Picture this: January 8th, 2025. There I was, mindlessly scrolling LinkedIn between debugging sessions when ping - a message slides into my DMs. Usually, I treat recruiter messages like I treat JavaScript errors - ignore them and hope they go away (I'm kidding... about the errors). But this one caught my eye. Gusto? The payroll unicorn? Okay, you have my attention.
The Take-Home Saga: A Sunday Well Spent
After acing the initial screening (read: successfully hiding my impostor syndrome), they hit me with the take-home assignment. On a SUNDAY. The audacity!
But like any good dev who's watched too many Marvel movies, I suited up for battle. The mission? Build a data table with filtering and pagination. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy... right?
// My magnum opus: A data table that would make Marie Kondo proud
const DataTable = () => {
const [data, setData] = useState([]);
const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(false);
// This caching function is definitely not copied from StackOverflow
// (Narrator: It absolutely was)
const cacheResults = useMemo(() => {
return {
store: (key, data) => {
// Magic happens here
// And by magic, I mean basic localStorage operations
}
};
}, []);
return (
<div className="please-hire-me-container">
{/* Components that sparked joy */}
</div>
);
};
The Technical Deep Dive with Oz: When Reality Hits
First up was Oz, the code whisperer. We dove into my take-home project like it was a Christopher Nolan movie - layer by layer. There I was, trying to explain my caching function like I wrote it in my sleep (spoiler: I didn't write it at all), when Oz dropped the accessibility bomb. Did you know Chrome DevTools has built-in accessibility features? Mind. Blown. 🤯
The Plot Twist: Schedule Shuffle
Just when I thought I had my interview prep schedule sorted (like my npm dependencies - narrator: they were not), they pulled a fast one. "Hey, can you chat with our PE... like, tomorrow?" Sure, why not? It's not like I needed those extra days of prep or anything... nervous laughter
The PE Interview: When Keeping It Real Goes Right
Plot twist within a plot twist - the PE interview with Sadik turned out to be my jam! We vibed like React and JSX. Talked about team dynamics, remote work, and the future of frontend development. Pro tip: Sometimes the best prep is just being genuinely curious and not trying to sound like you swallowed a technical documentation.
The Design Round: The Great Head Nod
Then came Tommy and his silent sidekick for the design collaboration chat. Y'all, Tommy was nodding so much during our conversation, I thought he was at a rock concert. My design collaboration philosophy? "I trust designers to design, and they trust me to code." Simple as that. No ego, no drama, just vibes.
The Architecture Round: When the Difficulty Setting Suddenly Changes
Then came the moment. The big one. The architecture round with Matt. You know in video games when you're cruising through on normal mode, feeling pretty good about your skills, and suddenly the game throws you into a Dark Souls-style boss fight? Yeah, that was this interview.
// My loadout during the interview:
const battleLoadout = {
start: "Equipped: Next.js Shield of Comfort +5",
middle: "WARNING: Next.js Shield removed from inventory",
end: "Searching for: Vanilla React Legendary Weapons..."
};
The mockups looked like early-game content at first. But then Matt started asking questions that made me realize I'd wandered into an end-game zone without my usual gear. State management, caching strategies, type systems, routing - all without my trusty Next.js armor set.
Each question felt like discovering a new challenging game mechanic. And unlike my usual gaming sessions, I couldn't just Google the walkthrough mid-battle!
The Final Call: Plot Twist Central
Around 5 PM, my recruiter called. After some small talk about his sick baby (which, btw, is the cutest way to soften a blow), he dropped the truth bomb: I was more L3 than L4. Talk about a birthday week surprise!
But here's the kicker - while an L3 at Gusto makes a sweet $180k, that L4 role came with an even sweeter $225k package.
Yet beyond the salary numbers, here's the thing - and this is important - making it this far in the interview process at a pre-IPO startup like Gusto? That's like making it to the bonus levels in a game you thought was out of your league. Sure, I didn't beat the final boss, but I proved I could hang in the advanced dungeons.
The Real Victory: Leveling Up IRL
Looking back, I realized something profound (and not just that I should grind more architecture XP). My character stats are actually way higher than I'd been giving myself credit for. Here I was, trading combo moves in discussions about complex frontend systems, joining raid parties with senior engineers, and getting "Great Success" feedback across multiple rounds.
This wasn't just an interview process - it was a progression check. A benchmark showing that FAANG-level companies aren't just some impossible achievement - they're the next unlockable content in my career. With some targeted skill tree investments in architecture and system design, that L4 position isn't just a legendary item - it's my next achievement to unlock.
The Road Ahead
Six months from now? Who knows - I might be writing a very different blog post. One where the architecture round is my speed-run category, not my challenge run. The gap between where I am and that L4 position isn't as wide as it might seem. It's not about completely respeccing my character - it's about optimizing my build and mastering a few new mechanics.
To all my fellow devs out there grinding through interviews and leveling challenges - keep farming that XP. Sometimes being "not quite there yet" just means you're in the middle of your character development arc.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some system architecture skill trees to explore and some vanilla React side quests to complete. This L4 achievement isn't going to unlock itself! 💪
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