WaFd Bank Interview Questions
& Process

It was a mix of technical and behavioral questions. They asked about Java OOP concepts and some AWS stuff. Also covered problem-solving, teamwork, and communication.

This was a really long process, with a bunch of "chats" spread out over a while. By the second in-person "chat", they told me to expect at least two or three more, plus maybe a meet & greet with the local team. They said they'd let me know either way. I followed up and was told an update was coming and to just wait. Ten days later, no word. I checked the careers site and saw "candidate not selected" but they couldn't even be bothered to tell me. Left me totally in the dark. Just a heads up, watch your time and don't expect much when interviewing with WaFd, especially in Arizona.

It started with a quick call from an external recruiter, who then set up a second call with a lead engineer. This second call was very technical, not much room for casual chat. I asked about the team, company goals, current problems, and the tech stack they use. It felt like there wasn't much space for natural conversation, and the interviewer seemed annoyed when I asked about other teams. They want to move to the cloud, but didn't give a clear plan. Since the role was 'DevOps' and mentioned cloud, virtualization, and automation, I expected this info to be readily available, but it was met with a negative reaction. This might reflect their impersonal approach. The engineer then asked networking trivia and AWS VPC questions without much discussion. It felt like a pass/fail situation, looking for textbook answers. I didn't feel like a good fit, and the experience wasn't great because any attempt to elaborate or discuss tech in general was rushed or interrupted. I didn't get a clear picture of the day-to-day or specific DevOps expectations. I think they need to be clearer about what they're looking for to attract good candidates, though this might be intentional. My impression is that for DevOps in a corporate/banking setting, they need someone to just do tasks as they come, rather than be involved in architectural or policy design. It seemed like individuality and creativity aren't valued; they might prefer people who know the facts and can execute tasks without question while management figures out the big picture.

The interview process kicked off with an unscheduled phone call from the HR Rep, which I didn't realize was the first interview until midway through. After they decided to proceed, I had to get a drug test (within 48 hours, I believe?) and agree to a background check. The HR Rep then forwarded my details to the branch manager, who set up a time for me to interview with them. My chat with the branch manager was great – very natural and not like the usual question-and-answer format. We just talked, and it naturally covered the same ground as typical interview questions without the awkwardness. Afterwards, I met the supervisor briefly. The manager indicated they were offering me the job on the spot, but they had to wait for the background check and drug test results to come back before making it official. Knowing those would be fine, I just waited another day for HR to call with the offer. The whole process, from the initial call to the offer, took about 3-4 days, which I heard is quick but apparently possible. I started the following week.