Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I got picked for a phone screening for a Software Engineering position at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. It was a quick 30-minute call with HR, mainly asking behavioral questions. They threw in a couple of technical questions too, about basic OOP and Agile stuff. The interview felt easy and I thought it went well. They said I'd hear back in five business days, but after six with no word, I shot them an email asking for an update. They never even replied. Finally, 15 business days post-interview, I got a rejection notice. The slow communication was a bummer, it would've been way more professional to give an update on time or at least respond to follow-ups instead of leaving people hanging.

I applied online and a recruiter got in touch for an HR screening. This was followed by a 90-minute discussion with the hiring manager. After that, I had a 24-hour take-home assessment with two questions. There was a significant delay before I was invited to a technical panel interview. This panel included a director, then team members who were leads, and finally a combined session with a lead and an architect. They mentioned that the company moves slowly, and the process did take a long time with gaps. Despite positive feedback during the process, I received an automated rejection email with no explanation.

So first, the recruiter called me and asked some questions about C, my resume, and just general behavioral stuff. Then, they gave me a coding challenge to do in 30 minutes and send back. The next interview was about a week and a half later with the team. They asked about me, my expectations for the role and company, my resume, C, C++, and data structures. It was pretty straightforward. After that, I had an on-site interview. We first toured the manufacturing facility, then I gave a 30-minute presentation on an embedded/firmware topic, either a past project or a paper. Then there were questions about the presentation. After that, there were four technical rounds, each about 30 minutes. The first was data structures and applications, the second was C, embedded programming, debugging, and errors. We had lunch. Then, a 30-minute casual meeting with the director about goals, experience, and behavioral questions. The third technical round was system design, bit manipulation, and C programming. The last technical round covered Operating Systems, mutexes, semaphores, and some C coding. Finally, the team leads talked about the org structure and I could ask questions. Then HR came in to talk benefits and other things. The HR and team lead were available for any final questions.