Rubicon Project Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

So first I had a Skype interview with the hiring manager. Then I had to do a coding challenge that took about 3 to 4 hours to complete. After that, I went onsite and met with 5 different people. One of those interviews was to go over the coding challenge I did, and the others were whiteboard interviews where they asked about algorithms and language specifics. The recruiter chatted with me for about 15 minutes after that. The interviewers were really nice and helped me out if I got stuck, so don't be nervous. They also gave us snacks and a tour of the office. It was a pretty good experience and I wasn't nervous once it started.

The application process, initiated by a recruiter, spanned nearly two months. Initially, I had a phone chat with the Director or hiring manager. This was followed by a Skype call where I was given a couple of coding problems. About a month later, I went for an onsite interview. This onsite included a collabedit session with a remote developer, a one-on-one with the Director, and a session with a Front End Developer. I felt the technical assessment was very academic. I was asked to implement a Spare Matrix, which I couldn't finish in the time provided. It's hard for me to grasp why these kinds of questions are used to assess candidates. The role I applied for is about building enterprise software, which fits my experience. Most of our daily work involves creating secure, scalable, and robust services for high-volume transactions. In my career, I've never had to solve problems like Spare Matrix or find the Kth smallest number in an array. These questions would make sense for roles focused on core Java platforms or database development. If needed, most of us could learn and get good at them. Another common interview tactic is 'I want to see how the candidate thinks.' Thinking is bound by what's already known. If faced with an unseen problem, we can only use known methods. If you hit a 'no data found' error, you usually have to look it up or ponder it for a while. That's what Google and Stack Overflow are for. That's how I tackle problems: check for solutions, research better ones, and if I don't get it, I'll study and apply it. Machine and human learning aren't that different: Input -> Process -> Output. I wish companies would present real-world problems they encounter daily. I doubt many interviewers asking these questions have solved them themselves. As someone said, a century's philosophy becomes the next century's common sense. We can all learn and write a merge sort, but how many can invent a new sort?

I applied through the University Career Fair in Nov 2015. I got called for the Intern Interview Day on March 30th. There were 3 hiring managers from LA, Seattle and New Jersey offices who interviewed me. They all seemed clueless and too busy to listen. One of them even spent time talking about NJ counties and neighborhoods. The recruiters were also obnoxious. After following up for 3 weeks, I was told I didn't get the job.