NIC Interview Questions
& Process

The process was fair and not too stressful. The company culture seemed great and welcoming. I think it would be a wonderful place to work. I really love it. I'd love to lead a team eventually, but I want to be part of the team and grow with them first.

So, first, I had to do this lit review thing on drones and wildfires, like all the tech and legal stuff. Then, assess the drone tech, like thermal, LiDAR, etc., and pick the best ones. After that, I went out and did some field observations, collected data with the drones, and compared it to old ways. Then, I analyzed all that data to see if drones really helped with detecting and mapping wildfires. I also looked into using drones to drop water or retardant and how well that would work. Plus, I had to figure out all the legal and ethical issues, like privacy and airspace rules. Finally, I summarized all my findings on drone effectiveness, resource delivery, and the legal/ethical side, and gave some recommendations for people involved in wildfire management and for future research.

I had an interview with a director in Denver. They canceled the first phone interview and rescheduled. It's fine, things happen and I'm adaptable. The interviewer just went through a list of questions, not really trying to understand my strengths. I emailed them a few times afterward but didn't hear back for a month and a half. Very unprofessional. If you're not interested, just let me know. If it's still up in the air, at least respond quickly.

A third-party recruiter reached out and set up a screening call quickly. Following that, I had a Zoom interview with the hiring manager, and then another with the hiring manager and a VP. I didn't have a formal take-home assignment, but I did need to provide examples of completed projects. The last stage was a group chat over Zoom with several people. References were checked, and they contacted them within a couple of days. While each part was a bit different, the overall vibe was very conversational and relaxed, not too formal. They asked typical behavioral questions like 'tell me about a time when you…', but mostly, we just had an easy chat about my background and my questions about the company and role. Each meeting was about an hour, though it might have been shorter if I hadn't asked so many questions. It was a really good experience, much more chill than other tech places I've interviewed at.