Shopify interview questions

I thoroughly enjoyed the interview process with Shopify. I applied online through the careers section of the website and really took my time with the open response questions. I was contacted within the week to book my first 15-20 phone interview. I was asked a few questions about why I was interested in Shopify and to give an example of a recent challenge I overcame in my role (*hint follow the STAR model-- situation, task, action, results ;)). I was contacted within a week after that to schedule my life story interview. My interviewer was incredibly thoughtful, patient, and very interested in hearing my unique background. I was prompted to start from high school, though I took my life story back even further to talk about the example my parents set for me, childhood, teenage years, high school, college, and post-grad and weaved a lot of the a-ha moments together that I feel shaped the person I am today. I felt very relaxed, heard, and seen. Within about 2 weeks after this, I was asked to schedule my final interview: 2 back-to-back interviews with the Team Leads (the managerial position for which the position I'm applying for would report to). We went through situational questions and a deep dive of my resume, finding where my experience and values align with the company, mission, and position. There were a few questions that were a bit left field that I was unprepared for and did my best to show them my thought process, though was honest about where my knowledge of the industry/role fell short. I think I recovered pretty well, and would rate my confidence at an 8/10 after that interview. 2 weeks later, I was invited back to do another round of the final interview with different Team Leads. I studied very hard for this one and did my fair share of research on the questions/topics I fell a bit short of the first time around. The final, final interview went super well, it felt more casual, and about a week later, I received a phone call notifying me of a verbal offer, final offer pending conversations with my references :) Overall super pleased with the experience, I felt it was very fair, thorough, and holistic. I could feel the strong employee-centric culture this organization has, and that was really important to me in my job search.

I understand Shopify tries to humanize the interview experience by doing life stories, but my experience was absolutely horrible. The interviewer I had pretty much asked me to pick a starting point and talk about my life until now. She wasn't engaged and didn't probe any further questions. She was dry and the interview was short. I think this method of interviewing is awful and doesn't leave much room for discussion. At least give the interviewer talking points that can help carry the conversation and help guide the person being interviewed for more structure.