CognitiveScale Machine Learning Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I was contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn. First, I had a call with her, then a phone screen with two people from the ML team. After that, it was an on-site with 4-5 interviews. Everyone I met was super nice and knew their stuff. They weren't trying to trick me, just genuinely see if my experience, skills, and personality fit the team. The interviews covered ML, engineering, and two case studies where they focused on my approach rather than the final answer. The last step was a conversation with a co-founder. The whole process was really good, and the recruiter kept me updated throughout, which was awesome.

The interview process was quite unprofessional. It started with a phone screen with two interviewers, one of whom was initially unintroduced. I was then invited for an on-site interview the same evening. After I provided my availability, it took over a week of follow-up to get the interview date. I was supposed to travel on Monday but only got info about reservations late Friday evening after I inquired. The interview itinerary wasn't shared until Monday afternoon. The on-site consisted of four interviews, each with 2-3 interviewers. The technical and software development interviews were decent. The last two were 'Use case' interviews where I had to propose ML solutions for given problems and datasets. I found these poorly structured, with insufficient information and minimal interviewer input or feedback. Towards the end, I spoke with the recruiter about offers and timelines. They said I'd hear back in a few days, but I received an automated rejection email instead of a personal one. My requests for feedback went unanswered. I also had to follow up about reimbursement for my travel, despite the initial email stating I would be reimbursed. It was a really bad experience overall.

I interviewed at CognitiveScale in November 2018. The whole process took about 3 weeks. I had a great time talking to the team throughout the interviews; they were really nice and asked smart questions. First, there was a phone screen where we talked a lot about two of my previous projects and some basic ML concepts. After that, I went onsite to their Austin office for about 5 more rounds. They covered a lot of ground, going over everything on my resume. The interviewers clearly knew their stuff. Two of the rounds were case studies where I had to work through a data problem and explain how I'd approach it. I also had lunch with some of the team. The company vibe was super friendly, and everyone seemed to genuinely like their jobs. All the people I met were smart and excited about their work.