Isilon, A Division of EMC Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interviews were days and weeks apart, which in this market is dangerous and certainly indicates a lack of drive and commitment to such a process, or at least organizational issues. The culture appears sterile and lacking in innovation, with a dull office atmosphere. Several comments and attitudes indicated that people are not happy working here after the acquisition.

It started with a recruiter call, they were super nice and enthusiastic about the company and gave lots of info. Then there was a phone interview where we talked about a technical question and then I coded it online. The next step was an onsite where I had 6 one-on-one interviews. They asked various questions and had me code solutions on a whiteboard. Everyone I met was really smart and seemed to enjoy tackling difficult technical challenges.

I applied online and had a recruiter call, then two phone screens, and then I was invited for an on-site interview. There were a total of four technical one-on-one rounds. The first two went well, but the last two felt like the interviewers had already made up their minds. The first of the bad interviews was with someone vague, who kept checking his phone, interrupted me, and moved on quickly. He seemed to nitpick my answers, even the correct ones, and asked theoretical questions. I thought that was bad, but the last round was worse. I interviewed with a PhD candidate who mentioned it a lot. He started criticizing my resume and suggested changes. He was also vague, loud, rude, and arrogant, and wouldn't let me finish my responses. He also implied he lives and breathes code, so I had to be careful. When an interview clearly goes south, it's probably best to just leave. I made some mistakes, but their interview approach wasn't justified.