Kohler Co. Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

So, the interviewer first asked me to introduce myself. Then we dove into some questions. They wanted to know what OOPS is and the difference between encapsulation and abstraction. After that, they asked about my project and threw in some basic coding questions like reversing a string and swapping two numbers without a third variable.

So I interviewed for a Senior Security Engineer role. The first technical screen they set up didn't even check my availability first, which was a major red flag. My interviewer was honestly not competent, had terrible communication skills, and didn't even grasp basic computer science fundamentals. His questions were nonsensical, and he got irritated whenever I asked for clarification. For example, he asked me to design a system with a backend and frontend, but when I asked what type of system it was (like ecommerce, social media, or tinyURL), he seemed clueless. He then tried asking 'technical' questions about NodeJS and Typescript, but he clearly didn't understand Javascript or NodeJS well himself. Once he realized his questions weren't landing, he struggled to recover. There were two programming questions: one about checking if a string is a palindrome, and another about removing duplicates from a string. When I asked if the implementation for the duplicate removal should create a new string, he got visibly annoyed. He also asked a behavioral question: 'What if you need something from your coworker and they don't respond?' - another red flag. When I asked him questions, he seemed really confused. My overall impression was that the interviewer was a bad engineer and that the company culture doesn't really support its employees.

This company has an extensive and drawn-out 5-phase interview process. It took at least a week between each phase. First was a phone interview with HR. Then a phone interview with a software engineer. After that, a Webex interview with a software engineer where I had to write some simple programs or methods. Then there was a 2-hour Calpers test with personality and problem-solving questions. Finally, an onsite interview. They also had delays with reimbursement for travel expenses, taking over two months to get my refund even after filing the form on time. I sent many emails and called a lot, and they kept saying a check was coming soon. It was a drawn-out, inadequate, and time-wasting interview process. One of the interviewers was rude, dismissive, or laughed at my responses, making the onsite interview odd and frustrating. I would have declined any offer after that visit. There are many negative reviews from current and former employees on Glassdoor that match my experience.