STR Interview Questions
& Process

Really enjoyed the process. The questions centered on my actual work, like decisions I made in projects, how I'd tackle things differently given a different problem setup, and what tools/practices I use, which I really liked. Everyone was nice and seemed enthusiastic to talk to me. The process included: 1. A screening with the hiring manager. 2. A panel interview with 3 engineers of different seniority levels and the group lead. 3. An offer. It was a very clear and straightforward process.

First, there were H/R and Hiring Manager screens. Then, a Hiring Manager and team interview. Finally, I interviewed with the AVP of Finance. I got to the first round. The hiring manager mentioned they're swamped with applicants and will decide after 'meeting' everyone, which struck me as odd. Normally, HR filters the resumes to the top 5, then they interview with the Hiring Manager. From there, they pick 3 to interview with the Hiring Manager's boss. Then, they'll figure out who gets the offer, with 2 candidates being strong backups if the first choice declines. I guess companies do things differently...

I applied on LinkedIn for cyber physical systems modeling and software engineering roles and heard back from the recruiter in about a week. I had a virtual video screen with an engineer about 8 days after applying, covering dynamical systems like spring mass systems, programming concepts like memory allocation (stack/heap in C), and communication protocols like RS-232. It went okay, though I struggled a bit with the spring mass system part. After that, I was invited to a virtual onsite 12 days later, scheduled from 11:30am-3:00pm with no breaks, which was tough. The interviews were 30 minutes each, with one or two interviewers. Some people listed on the schedule didn't show up. The discussions were pretty high-level, and the questions weren't very organized. I felt I had to repeat my background overview in every session. Things seemed to be going alright, though not great because of the lack of organization and some video lag. Then, after about two hours, the next interviewer didn't show up. About 10-20 minutes into that scheduled slot, the recruiter texted saying the remaining three sessions were canceled and they didn't know why. I was confused since I thought things were going fine, and I followed up via email the next day. I didn't hear back for 9 days, then got a generic email saying it wasn't a match. No explanation, no apology, which was weird since the recruiter was very communicative before. It was a pretty bad experience overall, felt disrespectful and unprofessional, especially the ghosting after canceling mid-interview. Some interviewers were bragging about how fast STR works, making unsubstantiated claims about my project experience. They canceled on the spot but took 9 days to give a rejection. Despite the bad experience, the work seems interesting, and some people seemed nice. There was a lack of diversity though, mostly white males. I might apply again but would definitely probe more about the technical and cultural aspects and would need to think hard about it.

I applied for a junior signal processing role in summer 2017. About two weeks after applying, I had a phone interview which went well enough to get me an in-person interview about two weeks after that. The onsite involved meeting with 5-6 engineers with different experience levels. The company feels like a small New England defense contractor, similar to places like MIT LL/MITRE/BBN in its work atmosphere, with many senior staff and managers having prior experience at those places. I traveled from out of state and they did not cover travel or lodging, so I stayed with a friend. After the interview, I sent thank-you emails to HR and the manager I met with. I followed up a little over two weeks later as I hadn't heard anything. A month after that, I followed up again and finally got a brief email from HR stating I wasn't a good match at the time. Looking back, I don't think I was the right fit for that specific role. However, the lack of communication after the onsite, especially since I had to follow up multiple times, left a bad impression. For a small company, not contacting candidates who interviewed onsite within about 2-3 weeks, particularly without covering travel expenses, can seem disrespectful of their time. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a response within that timeframe, whether it's an offer or not; my current company, which is similar, gets back to candidates within a week or two. Hopefully, this isn't a common issue there!