i360 Interview Questions
& Process

So far, this was definitely the strangest interviewing experience that have had in my job search. The initial screener was about 30 minutes over the phone and was relatively detailed. It covered my past experience, technical abilities, and knowledge of the company. The round 1 interview was online and was also supposed to be 30 minutes, but it probably involved fewer than 20 minutes of questions and explanations about the position/company from the hiring manager. I will note that I did appreciate the recruiter calling me back to notify me that I would not be getting an offer, and also offering me some feedback/discussion about my application.

I applied for a data engineer role at Georgia-Pacific and got a call from the hiring team. They mentioned the position was on hold and offered a similar role at i-360 (part of Koch industries). The first round was a screening call with a senior engineer and data architect. They showed me an ER diagram and asked about table relationships, join conditions for specific data retrieval, and other basic database questions. No Python or coding questions were asked. The second round involved an in-person interview in Arlington, VA, with the flight and hotel covered, plus $257 cash. I met with the management team for a good discussion about their projects and work culture. Questions were mostly behavioral. The third round had me complete a 30-minute SQL query test with aggregation-based questions. After a short wait, I explained my answers to three panelists, one of whom was very rude and disengaged, even walking out mid-interview. The other two panelists seemed dis interested and only asked about my current project. No coding questions were asked in this round either. The interview concluded abruptly after the rude panelist left.

So I had 4 rounds of interviews for this role. First was a phone screen with some basic questions about my background and resume. Then a second phone screen that was a mix of technical questions and one question about political leanings. The third round was another technical interview, this time over Skype, where I had to solve SQL questions and one algorithms/data structures question. Finally, there was an on-site interview with two panels, each having three people. They asked about my answers from the third round and probed more into my political views.

The interview process involved two main stages. First, there was a 60-minute online technical discussion. The second stage was an onsite interview, which was split into a few parts. It started with a 2-hour session of technical and behavioral questions with the Director and Head of Engineering, followed by a 1-hour lunch with the team. After lunch, there was another 2-hour session focused on behavioral questions with the Hiring Manager and the Lead. The overall experience was pretty good, organized, and people were friendly. The travel and climate change made the second part harder, but I got through it. Lance, the Hiring Manager, was considerate and finished the last session early. i360 covered all expenses, which was great. The feedback part wasn't ideal; I waited about 10 days and then got an email saying they chose other candidates. While I respect that, I think faster and more useful feedback would have been better given the effort. Big thanks to Rumit and Brian for the connection. This was my first onsite in 6 years, so it was a big learning moment, and I'm thankful for the chance.