DPS Telecom Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

My interview with DPS Telecom was pretty bad. The whole thing took about 8 hours, with a lot of waiting around and not much talking. They had a bunch of tests that seemed old and not really related to the job, like easy Word and Excel tests, a typing test, an IQ test, and then an Arduino challenge and a whiteboard challenge. It was a lot of tests, especially for only $17 an hour, which felt like a waste of time. They also gave me a brochure that talked about lots of overtime, which made me worried about work-life balance. It was also messed up because they thought I had dropped out, so they didn't even grade my work. Honestly, I'm glad I'm a Master's grad in Computer Science and I know I can do better. DPS Telecom's interview made it clear they don't value candidates or employees much.

The interview process is pretty long, taking about 8 hours over two days, but that's understandable since they don't require experience or degrees. They're upfront about expecting long work hours (45-55 hrs/week) for starting pay around minimum wage ($16.25 for 90 days, then supposedly market rate). It starts with a Google Doc/Excel test to check basic instruction following and computer skills. Then, there's a 1-minute typing speed test and an online personality assessment where you pick words describing your work ethic and company values. Next, an in-person interview (with HR or an Engineer) covers questions like 'Why DPS Telecom?' and 'How did you hear about us?'. For software roles, you get a basic C whiteboard programming challenge, easier than a LeetCode easy. After that, you take an IQ test, which could take 1-3 hours. The process concludes with a final on-site C programming challenge, which is timed and meant to reflect job expectations, taking up to three hours. They say they'll get back to you with an offer or rejection, but often they just ghost you if you don't get an offer, which happened to me. It's frustrating to invest so much time and not even get a rejection email. Everyone I spoke to was new (less than 3 months), and while nice, senior staff were often unavailable. This aligns with other reviews mentioning high turnover due to low pay, long hours, and firings. DPS likely continues these practices because of the limited developer jobs in Fresno.

It was a pretty standard interview process. I had a take-home assignment and then on-site, I had to do an MS Word and MS Excel test, a behavioral interview, a white board coding challenge, and an IQ test. The whole on-site part took about 4-5 hours.