Heartbreaking. All interviews went very well—technical, cultural, etc—until the seventh and final coding exercise turned out to be more of a riddle than a technical challenge. This exam was a paired prompt where you're tasked to build a fairly straightforward UI in React that a junior developer could probably handle without much guidance. Zero JavaScript or algorithm fundamentals. Not even any remotely esoteric React bits (I offered to use some of the fancier hook APIs, and they specifically told me not to). I crossed my Ts and dotted my Is. I asked before moving onto each step if the interviewer would like to spend more time there (they declined). I asked if there was any more material, like a proper design asset (no, just use this blurry screenshot). I finished early, and offered to dive deeper into what I submitted with the extra time (they declined). They said it was great as it was and wanted to move on to Q and A. I thought it was a lock. Well, it wasn't. Rejected due to a signal that my performance was fine, but not "strong enough." No elaboration. Previous steps in the process that they gave me positive feedback on were much more challenging—in fact, I've never had an easier final interview in my entire career. While the people I met were very nice and thoughtful, it's hard to come away with any conclusion other than there were factors outside of my control that they weren't able to disclose. If you look at a few of the other negative reviews, mystery rejections at the final step aren't uncommon, which gives me the impression that there is some funny business going on behind the scenes at Notion.

I didn't have a good interview experience. Throughout the coding interview, I actively sought clarification, asked questions, and maintained open communication with the interviewer. However, I found the interviewer to be very passive, offering minimal comments and guidance. I completed the coding task in 35 minutes, and despite completing a couple of follow-up questions about potential improvements and runtime analysis, I received little feedback. When I inquired about my performance at the end, I was told that I had covered all the corner cases. The next day, I received a rejection email from the recruiter. Upon requesting feedback, I was informed that they were unable to provide it.