2 coding rounds on phone via code share. then full day hangouts interview scheduled.
Feedback I received from Gusto: She was pretty quiet in some areas of the paired programming interview. She looked to solve the big problem instead of tackling some of the smaller ones. She wrote a decent amount of code without running any tests until urged to.
Before appearing for the interview, I had multiple mocks with an Amazon SDE2 and an SDE3. I was clearly told that I should approach a problem top down.
Smaller problems which you know are easy to solve should be tackled later. Always work backward after drawing the bigger picture. SDE3 told me that he never expects any candidate to run the tests in between coding. Rather it would be a red flag for him. Maybe Gusto follows TDD? If yes, I should have paid attention to that.
For what it's worth, I wasn't quiet because I am in the habit of thinking out loud. I never ever go quiet for more than 5 minutes which is totally justified if I want to do my own thinking. In the last round though, interviewer himself seemed a bit disinterested. His hand on his cheek, dropping down body posture, so I got an impression that he just wanted me to write the code. I explained my entire approach before moving forward with the coding. I added so many comments on each method. Again, something I learned in the mocks.
But I completely understand and respect that companies have different ways of working. But honestly, I am confused now because both the opinions from experienced interviewers are poles apart.