SSL Interview Questions
& Process

Got contacted a couple of weeks after applying online and they asked me some questions. First, there was a phone interview that was about 30 minutes long. They asked some basic questions about my resume and a few basic technical questions about composite materials. After the phone interview, they told me I would be invited for an on-site interview. The on-site lasted over 7 hours and I interviewed with multiple leads and managers. They asked a lot of behavioral questions where I had to describe situations I was in and how I handled them, and also some technical questions that varied in difficulty.

I applied online and followed up at a career fair. The first step was a call with the hiring manager, who asked about my resume and my interest in SSL. I went into detail about my experience, using technical terms to show my knowledge. Then, they arranged an onsite interview, covering travel costs. This involved a 4-hour session, including lunch with the hiring manager and his team, and another 2 hours with people from other departments. I also had to give a 30-minute presentation on a technical topic. In total, I met with 8 people. After the interviews, I followed up and received an offer. The people and culture seemed great, but I had other options, and the salary wasn't very competitive for Silicon Valley.

I applied online in late July and got an email to set up a phone interview for early October. The manager said it would be 30 minutes, no time for my questions or to discuss a second interview. He asked about my experience relevant to the job and then hit me with all the technical questions from the listing, plus some other structural ones. I heard back within a week, they said I wasn't a good fit and wouldn't move forward. My experience was pretty much what others have said about this role. I felt like the time limit didn't let me really check out the company, and I didn't have enough time to sell myself or learn about them. The constant technical questions made it seem like they only cared about the work and not if I'd fit in personally. It's a fair approach for some, but not for everyone.

Got referred by my school's career services and sent my resume. Recruiters contacted me within a week. Had a basic, non-technical phone screening. Then scheduled an onsite interview, but it got delayed by two weeks because an intern was handling the scheduling. The onsite was about 3 hours. First, I met with the hiring manager for about 15 minutes. Then a senior technician toured the labs with me and asked about test equipment I know. That was about 30 minutes. After that, another Senior Technician went into detail about the position, asking both technical and non-technical questions for about 40 minutes. Next was an interview with an engineering Manager who seemed to be in a bad mood and asked repetitive, technical questions like drawing an op amp, voltage divider, Ohm's law, current divider, and parallel circuits, and about my senior project. I think I missed a couple of those. That took at least 1.5 hours. We ran over the schedule, so I didn't meet the last interviewer, and he had already left. Then I met back with the hiring manager to discuss my experience and salary expectations. They said I'd hear back in about a week. About 4 days later, I got an email saying they were moving on with another candidate.