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Interview experiences
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Interview experiences · MD Anderson Cancer Center
MD Anderson Cancer Center Research Analyst interview: team presentation
I started with a recruiter-style call that covered basic background questions. Then I had a technical-light Zoom interview with the whole team. The format was simple: everyone joined the call, I gave a presentation of about ten minutes, and they asked follow-up questions about my experience instead of pushing into deep technical problem solving. I was surprised by how few technical questions ther…
Interview experiences · MDA
MDA Software Engineer Interview Experience: Reading and testing Python code
The interview began with a recruiter-style conversation. It included behavioral questions, quick trivia from my CV, and why I was interested in the company. Then it moved to Python. I had to analyze an existing piece of code, explain what it did, and verify it by testing it. After walking through the code's behavior, I ran the tests and explained what I found. The interview was direct. It was les…
Interview experiences · MDA
MDA Software Engineer interview with basic Python and disrupted onsite
I began with a short expectation-setting call that felt vague, more like a quick check than a senior-level conversation. I discussed my experience and answered one basic Python question about a list versus a tuple. There was little follow-up about what the role required or what they expected at that level. The next day I went to the Farnborough office for an onsite. The meeting felt chaotic: the…
Interview experiences · Medpace
Medpace Research Analyst hybrid-policy mismatch and clinical-trial question
The process began with a mismatch in expectations. In an earlier phone conversation, I was told about a hybrid policy that did not match what came up later in the in-person part of the process. From my side, the experience felt frazzled. The interviewer seemed disconnected, and I got the impression that they did not have complete answers to my questions. The timeline was roughly three weeks: firs…
Interview experiences · Medtronic
Medtronic Software Engineer interview experience: project architecture and DSA
The process began with an online assessment, then a technical round that covered systems thinking and data structures. I was asked to describe the architecture diagram for one of my projects, so it felt less like pure coding and more like explaining how the parts worked together. The technical questions then shifted to DSA. The interviewers cared a lot about how I reasoned through problems and wh…
Interview experiences · Meesho
Meesho Software Engineer interview: SDE-1 problem solving
I interviewed for an SDE-1 full-stack role at Meesho after applying through the career portal and being shortlisted. The first round focused on problem solving and felt like a standard technical screen. One detail I kept being reminded about was logistics: I needed a backup internet connection for the interviews. It did not change the technical content, but it affected how I prepared and how I ma…
Interview experiences · Meesho
Meesho Software Engineer interview: structured real-work questions
I applied for a Software Developer role at Meesho and went through a well-structured interview sequence, although it did not lead to an offer. The interviewers were professional and grounded, and their questions seemed tied to real engineering work rather than abstract trivia. The flow stayed organized throughout, and it was easy to engage with the team while still being pushed on relevant subjec…
Interview experiences · Meltwater
Meltwater Account Executive interview: general group stage without sales depth
I went through an early group stage with several people at once. The conversation stayed general and did not go deeply into sales topics such as running a pipeline, what I would sell, or why Meltwater specifically. It was more about broad communication and fit, and I had to think aloud with others present. The process felt average in difficulty but not tailored to an Account Executive role. I lef…
Interview experiences · Merck
Merck Software Engineer interview: long final campus day
After I applied online, the early response was quick: an HR phone screen followed by a video interview with the hiring manager. I was then invited to a final-round onsite at the Rahway campus for top candidates. That day included about 6 to 7 interviews and a 45-minute presentation. The manager conversation came roughly 5 to 6 weeks before the onsite, and it took several more weeks to hear back.…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Machine Learning Engineer Interview Experience — Three Onsite Rounds, Kicked Out of the Meeting Room Mid-Interview
I finished interviewing at this company yesterday. My background is physics AI. I did competitive programming back in high school, and I figured I could cram a system design book for a few days and pass this onsite. Turns out I was still too green. The questions were pretty standard; it's on me for being too weak and wasting the opportunity. The interview was chaotic: in the middle of it, people…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview: 30-minute data structures and algorithms screen
My first step was a phone screen with the team. It was a tightly structured, 30-minute Q&A focused mainly on data structures, algorithms, and code optimization. What stood out was how closely it stayed to fundamentals and reasoning. I left feeling that it tested whether I could think through tradeoffs clearly and tighten up implementations under time pressure. Given the short format, it still fel…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview: a three-part HackerRank-style OA
After applying online, I received an online assessment on HackerRank-style tests with three sections. It covered data structures and algorithms, data pipelines, and SQL questions. Not long afterward, I had a 30-minute conversation with the hiring manager. It was mostly behavioral, with a few technical discussions mixed in. It felt like a standard early loop, with the OA setting the tone and the r…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview: AI-generated resume-tailored questions
My interview was conducted entirely through an AI platform. It generated questions tailored to my resume, and I found the process efficient and positive. Even though it used AI, it did not feel like a cold or mechanical interaction. The questions sounded natural, and the exchange felt more human than I expected. It was comprehensive for the time it took but still moved smoothly. I felt the AI pac…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview canceled before three algorithm prompts could be answered
The process was chaotic from the start. My first interview was canceled, and when I finally got a second one, it ended extremely quickly, in around five minutes. Before it started, I was given a Google document with three data-structures and algorithms prompts, including BFS and two pointers. I tried to take a couple of minutes to get oriented, but the interviewer canceled before I could write an…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer Interview Experience — 30-Minute Rapid-Fire Technical Screen, Rejected After Three Questions
The first round at Mercor was a 30-minute live technical interview. It was rapid-fire Q&A, where you try to answer as many questions as possible. I only got through 3 questions, so I didn't pass. The first question was to explain in detail a sorting algorithm faster than O(n^2). I gave merge sort. The second question was to give one slower than O(n^2). For brute force you can shuffle and then com…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer Interview Experience — A Product-Focused Recruiter Screen, Then Sorting Theory and a Concurrency Code Review
Round 1 — Background / recruiting round Self-introduction, plus walk through a project you've worked on recently. They dug deep into the project, but the follow-ups were all from a product angle rather than implementation details: was this decision made by your system or upstream? How do you define "it worked"? What's the success metric for this project? What's your understanding of what Mercor d…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer Interview Experience — A Rushed 30-Minute Screen on Sorting, Probability, and a Cache Race Condition
The interviewer was a principal from Caltech. He talked fast and used a lot of technical jargon, like a college professor would. It was rushed, only 30 minutes. Explain a sorting algorithm better than O(N^2). Merge sort — recursively split the array into left and right halves until there are only 2 elements left, then merge by inserting the smaller of the two into a new array and returning it (N…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer Interview Experience — Applied AI Tech Screen with an Async Refund Debugging Question and Rapid-Fire LLM Questions
Today I had a tech screen for Mercor's Applied AI role. The debugging question: The other rapid-fire questions: What is idempotency, and why do we need idempotent operations? What is RAG, and how is it related to fine-tuning? How would you handle context limit exceeded in an LLM application? LLM calls are usually stateless. How would you make an LLM application stateful? How would you handle prom…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer Interview Experience — Half-Hour Online Round of Code Review and Design Questions
Writing up an earlier Mercor fullstack round. It was online, about half an hour, and after I passed I got an onsite. It was mostly reading code to find problems and talking about design. I'm putting this together from my notes, so the order may not match what actually happened. Payment API Code that first calls an external provider to charge the customer, then writes a record to our own database.…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview: fast sorting questions and code review
One interview felt unusually fast and almost dismissive. I spoke with an engineer who asked quick, random questions, including the slowest sorting algorithm and its time complexity. I then did a quick code review of two functions. The whole decision seemed to happen within about five minutes, and the engineer appeared eager to wrap up after roughly ten. Another round was also very straightforward…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview: five-minute interview with BFS and two-pointer questions
Scheduling went badly from the start. The first interview was canceled after I had already been set up for it, and the second lasted only about five minutes. During that short session, I received a Google Doc with three data structure and algorithm questions, including BFS and a two pointer approach. I needed a couple of minutes to get oriented, but the interviewer canceled before I could write a…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview through an adaptive AI platform
My interview took place entirely through an AI platform. It asked questions based on what I submitted and how that information aligned with the job description. Instead of typing answers, I recorded live audio and video responses while the AI monitored me. The most important thing for me was keeping my answers consistent with what I had already told it about my background. The AI kept tying its q…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview with a five-hour virtual super day
My process started with a recruiter call, followed by an AI-driven stage where I answered LeetCode-style questions and additional technical prompts. After that, I went through a longer "super day" style setup. Mine was virtual and lasted about five hours in total, combining system design, coding, and what they called vibe coding on the same day. It was on the harder side, although I also felt lik…
Interview experiences · Mercor
Mercor Software Engineer interview with a rushed interview and a no-show
My application moved quickly at first and then ended without much closure. After speaking with a recruiter and taking an online assessment, I submitted my solution and received a denial about two weeks later. The experience was okay overall, but I never got any feedback, so I couldn't tell what went wrong. Later, I had a separate and more upsetting experience. I was rejected after a very brief in…