Arc Reviews 194

I see the notification stating that I have not passed Introductory Call.
I think it's not enough for people who invested time in successfully passing 2hrs+ tech quiz and then participating in the interview with HR just to see notification.
I'm very disappointed with the service and of course will not recommend this platform to anyone.

Recently I received an e-mail inviting me to apply for a part-time contract job on Arc. It looked like it could be good so I gave it a try.

In order to apply for verified jobs, you need to pass their verification tests, which other reviews have mentioned in detail. They wanted to fast-track me straight to the technical interview, but even then this process was pretty terrible and not worth the time.

After I responded saying I was interested, I received an e-mail with a button leading to a form. However in the meantime I had gone to the verification test and took one of the coding tests (3 hours to code 3 leetcode problems -- I hate leetcode by the way). I got interrupted midway and had to leave. This timed me out, and counted me as having failed the test. As a result, when I pressed the button in the e-mail, it prevented me from getting on the fast track. I brought this issue up to them via e-mail and fortunately they did fix it within a few hours (though it is sadly ironic that a website that vets developers has such an issue with their own website - I'm sure they would have failed their own test).

So then I applied to the job posting and waited. I received two emails in parallel, one was to interview with the actual company who posted the job, and the other was to finish my verification. Arc kept saying to me via email that they wanted things to go quickly (ASAP) so I scheduled the interview with the company for the next day, and it went well. But the technical interview was another story.

I received an e-mail with myself, an Arc representative, and a developer from a tech company who would pair program with me during the test. I mentioned that I would be available from 9 AM to 5 PM CST on Thursday and Friday (they wanted it to go fast, remember). The developer said he wouldn't be able to do it this week and asked if I had any times next week. I responded saying that I could only do Monday because I knew I wouldn't have Internet Tuesday or Wednesday. It wasn't until Monday (4 days later) that the Arc representative asked the developer to actually give me a time I could do the interview, because they wanted to hurry it up. He said he was busy due to travel (must be nice) and had times on Tuesday and Thursday, but as I mentioned I wasn't available on Tuesday so the only time I could choose was Thursday, at 10:30 AM (no timezone mentioned). I mentioned specifically in my email that I'd be available at 10:30 AM CST (I had stated my timezone was CST in the initial email as well).

Then on Wednesday he schedules the meeting for... 3:30 AM on Thursday. What?! Obviously his timezone is not CST, but I told him mine! You'd think he would have said initially 10:30 AM in such and such timezone, but he didn't. He just assumed I knew what his timezone was, and that I'd be able to wake up at 3:30 AM for an interview with him... or something. I don't know what he was thinking. Maybe he was just really busy and didn't bother to read all three of my emails, but in that case why doesn't Arc get ahold of developers who can actually dedicate their time to technical interviews? There is clearly some mismanagement going on.

So then while I'm sleeping I get an e-mail at 3:45 AM saying I did not show up to the meeting, asking if I would want to reschedule. It had taken us 8 days to arrive at a time that I literally could not meet, and I was no longer very enthusiastic about this opportunity. We'd have to schedule again, and who knows if that would take another week, or if the time would work out, or if I'd even actually pass the interview! I'd rather just forget it and get on with life.

And then I found out that another developer had applied to the same job posting. If they are already verified then they could potentially be going to the next step in the process while I'm stuck waiting. That's not fair at all!

There were also some other minor issues, including that the job I applied for was advertised as part-time, but the company clearly wants someone to work on it full-time (and probably with more experience than I actually have). When I got fast-tracked I gained access to CodeMentorX, which is pretty much their version of Freelancer.com -- ridiculous amounts of work for ridiculously low pay. During the interview they give you a "playbook" to read from to try and get you to show loyalty to them by telling you what to say and how to say it so that they can make a deal with the company. They claim that they will negotiate everything for you to benefit you, but honestly after this I know I'd be better off applying for jobs directly on my own.

During the course of all this I went from "excited" to "unimpressed" to "frustrated". By the time I received the last email I had found other opportunities. If you wait too long, you miss out. That's just how it goes. They don't value your time, and to a certain extent it seems like they need developers themselves.

Arc is a great way to meet new opportunities as developer or to find great stuff as a company. You can connect with great people around the globe.

Arc is a simple and powerful tool. It only took 1 technical interview to go to the next with the client. It's awesome.

I just had the WORST intro call all week after speaking with countless other agencies. The sales rep was rude, getting frustrated with me for giving him too much information ("I don't need all of that, I just need this number"). Any other hiring agency has been happy to have info to help narrow down matches. I also didn't appreciate the condescending tone when I wasn't ready to drop 100k+ for a role - I'm an impact tech firm servicing family businesses in emerging world countries. What about finding me people who are happy to take a pay cut to help build tech that matters? Just like there are fantastic people at NGOs, I'm sure there are fantastic devs who are into impact tech too. I've never felt so offended after a call. According that sales rep, most Arc clients are ex-Y Combinator, VC-funded North American start-ups, so I can't compete on salary with those job offers if I don't up my rate. Fine, but I shouldn't be SHAMED for not being able to, and as a hiring agency in "90 countries", Arc should be able to support my type of firm too. Rude. Don't ever use these guys.

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EDIT: After reading the company's reply, this actually just made me more infuriated. To schedule a call with ARC in the first place, you have to select your budget from the 4 radio button options Arc gives you. I'm well within the first two options - Why accept my call if you're going to shame anyone who's in the lower ranges? Waste of everyone's time.

Pure Silicon Valley arrogance.

Great platform I've worked before. They are friendly and guide the developers to get the good opportunity. Thanks.

Best service. Fast solution - Clear explanation.

This is the best platform to get the remote work in the times of pandemic. The best in terms of transparency, payouts, etc.

Their vetting process is actually tough.

I applied to the platform. I did not had to go through the docs or guides, the whole UI is very intuitive. Staff is quite polite and professional. All in all, liked it.

I like Arc. just share brain for grow mentee.

With Arc, code is alive, and with the open source movement, safe in the arctic vault in Svalbard, arc represents, that opportunity to professionally contribute to open source.

My experience has been great so far. I think the website should be faster in loading.

Thanks

A good experience as a developer for some years now. One thing that can be improved would be the communication part. Sometimes I felt I needed to do extra to be heard. Apart from that, all is good.

I have been using Arc platform almost since the beginning when it was still called Codementor and it was still a place to help other people and companies with complex technical problems. Now it has evolved into a service that gives ability to anyone to get the highest quality skilled technical help with everything from a small MVP projects to large enterprise ecosystems. I have managed to get a lot of interesting projects to collaborate on. I am on different platform similar to their but it feels they have a more personal communication between everyone involved and any issue as service provider is resolved really quickly.

I've completed several interesting project through Arc, I would recommend them to anyone looking for a good dev or for a contract job.

I'm very happy with Arc. Very smooth onboarding process and easy to use platform. I was successful in the interview process for a couple of jobs and pretty much work in a full-time role for almost two years now. Highly recommended for anyone to join!

I really loved talking to the Arc agents.
Really professional, meaning only real seniors can join!
Highly recommended!

This platform is truly functional and a pleasure to work with...