Protagonist Interview Questions
& Process

I talked to HR first, then the hiring manager. I got an email saying I moved on and to schedule a time, which I did. I even sent an email saying I submitted my availability, but never heard back.

First, there was a phone screening interview where they asked general questions about my experience. Then, I had a virtual interview with three people: two data scientists and one manager. They mostly asked about my data analysis experience and problem-solving skills.

A recruiter reached out first. Then, there was an initial phone screen, followed by a non-technical call with the Engineering Manager. After that, I had a coding test where I had to set up Spark on a virtual machine on my own machine. I then had to write Python code to do a word count on a text file using Spark and make a small modification to the word count algorithm during a Google Hangout. Then there was a second technical phone call with the engineering manager that lasted about an hour. Finally, there was a semi-technical Google Hangout with two managers from DC. I followed up, but didn't hear back.

I had an initial phone screen with the company, which was really brief and covered things like when I could start and my work authorization. After that, someone from the team emailed me on a Monday to see if I could do an email interview with a team member. I let them know my availability, and then on Friday, I got another email asking me to update my availability. After I did that, I was scheduled for an interview on a Wednesday, two weeks out. But then, on the day of the interview, about two hours before it was supposed to happen, I got an automated rejection email. I emailed them to check if it was a mistake, and they finally responded 50 minutes after the interview time to say they'd gone with someone else. It was pretty disappointing how they handled it, especially since I was really looking forward to it. I hope they improve their process.