Flexential Security Analyst Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started with a recruiter phone screen where they asked some basic questions to check my knowledge, mostly about networking. After that, there was a longer interview, about 2.5 hours. This one had a lot of questions covering various networking concepts, terms, and basics. About 25% of the questions were about Linux, VMWare, and Windows servers. They also had a whiteboard session where I had to diagnose and fix some network problems. Overall, there were many questions, but the interviewers were nice and seemed to care more about how I think and reason rather than if I knew every single detail. A heads-up, they're hiring for either a 12-hour day shift or a 12-hour night shift, which includes weekends, so they basically operate 24/7. I think they should have mentioned the shift work during the initial phone screen because I wouldn't have gone that far into the interview otherwise. Also, the offer they made seemed a bit low considering the qualifications they were looking for and what's needed to get through the interview process, which seems to be a common complaint from other employees based on their Glassdoor reviews.

A third-party recruiter initially contacted me. He wasn't super clear on the job duties but was friendly. Next, I took a personality and IQ test, which was a bit of a surprise. Then, I had a phone technical interview with the Director. After that, I flew to Denver for the onsite interviews. The three people I met were quite unprofessional; one was late, and the Director had trouble connecting to the call. I then sat for another technical test while they watched and made jokes. Following the test, there were more technical questions, including some about firewalls, which seemed odd given my resume. When I asked about the meaning of 'Incident Response,' they laughed and dismissed it, implying it was just technical support. They asked my salary range again, and I suspect this, along with the fact it was an overnight shift (which I wasn't initially told), might have impacted their decision. They also asked about the heritage of my last name, which felt out of place. Despite the awkwardness, I managed to get through it. Although it was a poor experience, I'm actually glad I didn't get an offer. I was curious about ViaWest (now Flexential) in Denver, but they seem like a smaller player in the market.

The interview process was very thorough. It began with a phone screening, followed by a video conference, then a conference call with managers, and finally an on-site interview. For the on-site, make sure to brush up on your CIDR and IP ranges. The on-site includes resolving a problem on a whiteboard that has several issues, like a user not being able to get to a website, and you need to find out why. There's also an assessment covering Linux, MS Server, Virtualization, and Networking. Overall, it was a very thorough interview and technical assessment.