I declined a job offer as a QA Automation Engineer during a pandemic. Here is what I learned.

Two days ago I received a call from a recruiter saying the hiring manager offered me a job as QA automation Engineer and they were excited to see me on their team. Unfornatunetly, I decided to decline an offer, and here is why and what I learned from it.

Interview Process.

1. The initial call with HR
2. An hour zoom interview with two developers
3. Take-home assignment.
4. Final round meet team and Engineering Director via zoom.

It all started when CyberCoders recruiter emailed me about the opportunity he was working on and if I would be interested in submitting my resume. It was a perfect fit for my skill set and what I was looking for based on the job description. I so applied.

1. Two days later after I applied we set up an initial screening call with HR. The call was all about getting to know each other, talk about the company, my background, and what they were looking for in candidates. At the end of the call, she informed me that she is going to set up an hour interview with two developers and asked for my availability.
2. I did not know what to expect in the interview with developers so I tried to research as much as I can about the company, who is going to be interviewing me, and prepare to answer questions based on the job description.
   During the interview, I tried to express my interest in the job, asked follow-up questions about the project, product, tech stack, processes during the COVID-19, about the team I am going to be working with, what are the challenges they have, what they are looking for in new hire. Since an interview went well, they were moving forward and sent me a take-home assignment as the next step but this was a time when I realized that I do not want to work for this company.
   We will go more in detail in the section “Red Flags”.
3. Later on, after the interview, I received an email from a recruiter with instructions for a take-home assignment, and I had from 5 to 7 days to finish the project and turn in. Since the position was for Quality Assurance Automation Engineer I had to build a testing framework and pick one testing scenario (create/delete/edit) and perform end-to-end testing. I won’t go in-depth about the technical parts but if you are interested to take a look at the code here is the repo in GitHub.
4. The final round interview was code/project review and meet all the team members and Engineering Director. During the zoom call, I explained to them the testing framework architecture and my approach for end-to-end testing and answered all the questions they had. Finally, two days later after the interview, I received an offer.

Red flags.

but this was a time when I realized that I do not want to work for this company

1. I know the quote above sounds a little vague but the first red flag for me was their platform. It was just File Content Management Systems build with PHP and used in colleges and universities. Even though it was a great opportunity to contribute to the education system it did not really excite me, and something I wanted to put effort into and spent my time on it.
2. Usually, when I consider switching company I try to find a company when I want to stick for the long-term and built a career and grow. And when I was looking at developers' backgrounds I noticed they were in the same position for a while. So it made me a question “Is this company where not only I can improve my skills but grow career-wise?”. When I asked this question during the second interview one of the developers mentioned that it was surprising for them to get funds for a new hire since their last hire was while ago. I took this as a red flag because I thought the company does not invest in innovation, teams, etc, and therefore was no need for new hires until now.
3. Job security. We are going through a recession and many people have lost their jobs. And this was a contract position and in the case of the second wave of coronavirus and lockdown, there was a chance I would be the first one to let go whereas my present (also contract position) is a giant agriculture company. The demand for food will be increased and my job is more secured than a new one.

A list can go on and on…

Conclusion and lessons learned

I know it sounds arrogant and advantageous to decline a job offer while millions of people have lost their jobs and struggling to find a new one. Here what I learned.

1. Money is not always important even though they were offering me a higher salary. I choice stability with the current situation vs “will I be let go in case of the second wave of COVID-19 lockdown”.
2. Select a company where you believe in the product and its future. Otherwise, it will be just a matter of time to start looking for a new job again.
3. We are a team of two I primarily work on the fronted and another developer works on the backend. It was hard to leave them during difficult times.
   Fun fact, as soon as I declined an offer 2 days later other developer sent us his resignation letter saying he is leaving us for a new job haha.
4. I was wrong, disrespectful to the hiring team and recruiter for wasting their time because after the second interview I already knew I do not want to join a company. Therefore, I should have told them right away and stop wasting their time and my own and I still feel guilty about it.

Declining a job offer is not an easy decision when you put your heart and strength into a job search. I hope my experience helps to make your decision when comes to accepting or declining a job offer.