Cobalt Robotics Interview Questions
& Process

The recruiter was super helpful, usually giving feedback within an hour. He'd also call ahead to let me know what technical topics would be covered. I had five interviews in total: one with the recruiter, one with a managing engineer, a technical interview, a 'virtual onsite' with social and technical parts, and a final technical interview. I was told the last technical interview was added because my performance on a specific part of the virtual onsite's technical section wasn't as strong as they'd hoped, which isn't the usual procedure.

Went through 4 phone interviews and then a half day in-person interview where I met about a quarter of the company's employees. Some interviewers seemed really rushed, like they were forced to interview me while working on other things, which felt disrespectful. I even met one of the founders, who was great! Everything seemed positive, but I'm not sure why it didn't work out. I got a generic email saying they decided to go in a different direction. It's strange because they're still hiring for the same role six months later. They make good products though, and I wish them the best. I think they missed out by not hiring me.

The job listing was pretty generic and even the department head admitted that they're working with uncharted territory. I had a few 30-minute phone interviews with the department head and a few people from the company. The department head seemed to like me and thought I would be a great fit so I was invited to come in for a half day in person interview with several other people from the company including one of the founders. The first couple of interviews went well and I seemed to get along with a few of the other department heads. But I could tell some of them were forced to be there and didn't want to be involved. Then the following interviews were pretty bad, both interviewers had their laptops with them and seemed to be typing away working on other projects rather than being engaged with the interview and it was obvious at times the interviewer wasn't even paying attention to what I was saying. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way but I continued on. I spoke with one of the founders and he seemed pretty reasonable and I had a good conversation with him. I interviewed with someone remotely who seemed to be in the same situation as the last couple of people I interviewed with, he clearly didn't want to be there and had better things to do. I finish the interviews and leave with an uneasy feeling, it seemed like a cool product but the people working on didn't seem to care about the hiring process or even want to get to know my background. I had worked with similar startups in this field so I was confident I had the experience that they were looking for. I was given a generic rejection email afterwards saying that they decided to pursue other candidates. Overall the whole experience was pretty mercenary and even prior to the meeting the department head was bragging that they ended some interviews early and escorted people out if they didn't see a fit. I guess I was one of the lucky ones that made it through the process. Months later I see the job listing reposted basically copying info from my resume added onto the otherwise generic listing. I wish them the best of luck but if you're looking for a new opportunity I wouldn't waste your time, they seem to be unsure of what they're looking for and are always moving the goal post. This position has been up for months and keeps getting reposted with different info (assuming stolen from the resumes of people that they've interviewed), which is telling.

The interview process was pretty bad, showing little respect for candidate preferences. I interviewed with the head of the company in the first round. I coded in my preferred programming language and solved the problem. I had clarified upfront that this is my primary language for interviews and use it for all employers. They moved fast, and I prioritized their onsite to accommodate their schedule, moving out other employers. There was limited info provided on the onsite round. I walked into the onsite, surprised to see two interviewers. One was more assertive and forced me to code in their preferred language, stating they would help with syntax. This same person, who insisted on their language, offered no help and was disengaged most of the time, not reviewing my code or answering questions. The other interviewer offered some help and seemed to know the language. The assertive person seemed to be there just to force the language choice and do their own work during the interview slot. Interviews are stressful anyway; putting a candidate on the spot with a new problem in a language of the interviewer's choice is just bad. I moved out other employers to accommodate their schedule when I was laid off at the end of the year. They forced the candidate and couldn't even accommodate a programming language for a 45-minute interview. Definitely not worth working for.