Green Hills Software Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was super professional, thorough, and a good discussion. I really liked interacting with the hiring manager and his boss; they clearly know their product, customers, market, and internal company culture. They were open and willing to share the opportunities and challenges.

The process had four stages. First, a phone chat with the hiring manager. Second, a take-home assignment where I had to explain my understanding of the company, its mission, products, and competitors. Third, a remote PowerPoint presentation. Lastly, an in-person interview in Santa Barbara, CA. I felt some questions were not relevant and the chat with the CEO was a bit strange. They seem to follow an outdated sales approach and aren't open to new ideas. That said, their product is competitive and great for major projects, and the role offers significant earning potential. It's a very established company, ideal for someone with a lot of experience.

My interview with Green Hills was the best I've experienced. It started with an online test I did at home. The questions were alright, but 90 minutes felt too short, I probably could have used 180 minutes and ended up guessing a lot. I guess it went well though, because I moved on. Next, I had in-person interviews where they flew me out to Santa Barbara for 3 nights. It was a really nice trip with lots of good food (I didn't pay for anything!). Over the 3 days, I had 2 technical interviews, and it was super casual - I wore flip flops and jeans every time, which they said was fine. The first technical interview involved a coding assignment. I had 6 hours to write a program to do what they asked, using a Linux machine with a compiler, man pages, and books for C, C++, or Java, but no internet. I thought this would be really hard since GHS says they're elite programmers who 'develop software that never fails and can't be hacked.' But the assignment was manageable and I finished it with some time left, though I ran out of time trying to optimize it. The second technical interview was a debugging task. They gave me a buggy program, a debugger, and 2 hours to fix it in front of an engineer. It was pretty easy because the bugs weren't too hidden. Overall, interviewing with GHS was a great experience. Maybe not 'fun' but close. The people I met were excellent – technically skilled, nice, and genuine.

I found this company at a campus job fair. They talked with me for about an hour, mostly about my programming abilities and past work. After that, they sent me a link for an online test, which had 25 multiple-choice questions. I found it quite challenging and didn't manage to answer all of them. Following that, there was a coding assignment where I had to write a program within a 6-hour window (though it could be done faster, ideally in 3 hours for skilled candidates). Then came the on-site interviews. They treated me to a fantastic trip in Santa Barbara, including a nice hotel, beach access, and a welcoming host. It felt like they wanted to showcase Santa Barbara as a great place to live and work. For the on-site part, I had to complete a programming task, ensuring it was bug-free, within 4.5 hours. The next day, I had two more interviews: one with an engineer to discuss the programming test and my experience, and another with the head of the team.