Align Technology Software Engineer interview: project discussion and a riddle

The technical screen began with a discussion of a project I had worked on. I had to explain the algorithms I used and how the system worked. Then I was given a real-world riddle connected to the job description, which felt like a curveball after the project deep dive.

The first part was a direct conversation about engineering choices; the puzzle asked me to reason aloud with more ambiguity. Overall it felt medium difficulty, although the riddle made it harder than I expected and left less room to rely on my usual strengths. I thought my engineering explanations were solid, but I did not receive an offer.

Location: Qesarya, Haifa. Overall feedback: positive. Offer status: no offer.