Starkey Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Had a 30 minute technical phone screen on zoom. It was with two engineers, one I would work with and his manager. The manager was rude and seemed to think being cruel meant you were smart.

This was the most awkward and time-consuming experience ever. It started with a 1-hour technical phone screen, which was actually the best one I'd had. Then, I had to complete a 200-question personality test, which felt pointless. A few days later, I had an on-site meeting with the hiring manager. He asked standard personality questions, which was odd after the test. When I said problem-solving was a skill I was good at, he asked me to 'define a recipe to teach someone problem solving.' He argued that if I truly knew it, I could write it down for someone to learn. A few days after that, I had a day-long on-site interview with 5 different groups. Two panels asked technical questions: one wanted an elevator model whiteboarded, the other a soda machine model. After I tried to get more requirements, they just told me to start. I drew an MVC diagram for software integration. For the soda machine, they asked about getting money back, and I mentioned an API call, but they pressed for a specific integer return value, implying they wanted a virtual machine design, not software integration. The elevator question was similar. These were the kinds of requirements I was trying to get upfront. Communication during the panels was difficult because there were no defined requirements or agenda, leading to random, contradictory questions. Some interviewers were rude, implying I lacked enterprise architecture experience or hadn't worked with Agile. I also had a lunch meeting with two people from another team, which was enjoyable. I met with the software director, who admitted he wasn't technical but seemed like someone I'd enjoy working for. Finally, the manager met with me again, asked more questions he found online minutes before, and mentioned he got a bad referral from my previous employer, which seemed illegal. After two weeks, they said I wasn't a good fit and wanted to redirect me to another department, starting the process over. I declined and took a contracting job at the company that allegedly gave the bad referral.

The interview process had three stages. It started with a manager interview, followed by interviews with developers, and ended with an HR interview. The process was challenging because it covered coding, databases, and testing, with some difficult questions. Overall, it was a good interview experience.