tldr; a few red flags throughout the process and a take home design challenge related to a real Upstart problem I was contacted by a recruiter who I had a quick phone chat with. The next step was a whiteboard session with a product designer at Upstart. There was no portfolio review or discussion of my past work with anyone on the product team. The whiteboard session was focused around a real business problem at Upstart. Sending payments directly to credit cards. The session went well and found myself leading most of it. It did seem as though the designer was focused on solutioning rather than challenging the problem and assumptions. The next step was a take home design challenge that elaborated on the same problem. Take home challenges are controversial and can be seen as exclusive of parents and people with busy lives in general. It is also off-putting that it is a real problem related to their business. Regardless, I moved forward and spent a good amount of time with the challenge. I presented to 2 product designers and a graphic designer. It went well and we had good conversations. The next day the recruiter pushed for me to send the project to them after completing and presenting. I complied and the next day I was told that I was a great culture fit but they would be moving forward with stronger UX candidates. I'm okay with the decision but there were a couple red flags: 1. Having the interviewee work on a real problem related to the business 2. Asking to send that work in (after presenting and talking through it completely) 3. I never met with anyone higher than a Product Designer. No managers or anyone else from product.