ZeniMax Online Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process involved two main rounds. The first was a 45-minute video call. The second round was a much longer, 6-hour video call where I interviewed with 6 different teams back-to-back, with a 30-minute break in between. Some interviewers were really nice, but a couple seemed to dismiss me quickly. I got the feeling they might not have taken me as seriously because I'm a woman, acting surprised when I discussed competing games. It also didn't help that out of the roughly 14 interviewers, only one was a woman. They took about 2-3 weeks to get back to me after each round.

Applied mid to late Jan. Had a phone screen with a team member late Jan. Got invited for an on-site interview the following week. The on-site was a couple of hours with the hiring manager and some team members (local and remote). They mentioned considering me for a Sr. Systems Engineer role instead of the Sr. Network Engineer I applied for. The interview then focused on Systems topics like Linux, VMware, and storage, with a few BGP questions. Apparently, the team has had a lot of turnover and a recent structural change happened the same day as my interview. The manager was fairly new. The team supports two data centers for a single game and is planning team expansion, but details were sparse. After the on-site, I had another phone interview with two other team members (one after another) focusing on Windows and Active Directory, specifically DNS, Global Catalog, and FSMO roles. I was eventually offered a position, but we couldn't agree on salary. Most interactions were positive, but the final salary discussion was weird. After I declined their offer, the hiring manager asked for a counter offer. When I provided one, he said their last offer was 'acceptable' and the role would be more 'fun' than my current job. I'm not sure why he'd ask for a counter if he wasn't going to change his offer, and calling the role 'fun' seemed odd given the team's high turnover. The whole process took over six weeks, mostly due to salary talks.

The process was terrible. It began with a phone screening. Then, I had a 5-hour interview that included lunch, a tour, and meeting department heads. I used a lot of my PTO for this. After that, they asked for an art test, which felt out of order since it's usually done earlier. They weren't even sure what the test would be. They sent it Wednesday night and wanted it by the end of the week. I used the rest of my PTO and stayed up all night to finish it. Communication was good and fast until then. After I sent the test, I heard nothing. I emailed and called, but no response. A month and a half later, I got an automated rejection with no explanation. The whole interview process took a month, then silence, and finally a disrespectful automated rejection. I'm very unhappy with how this company handled things.

So after a phone interview, a skills test, and a quick one-on-one with the hiring manager for the team I wanted, I then met with managers from most of the CS teams. It was a pretty lengthy process overall, but everyone was really professional and nice to talk to. Things did move a bit slower because I interviewed around the December holidays, but they were upfront about why it was taking longer, so it wasn't a big deal.