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      Keysight Technologies

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      R&D Systems Engineer Interview

      Oct 23, 2014
      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      Santa Clara, CA
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Keysight Technologies (Santa Clara, CA) in Jun 2014

      Interview

      I interviewed with the measurement division of Agilent, just before it split into a separate company called Keysight Technologies. Keysight somehow inherited the AFM product line along Agilent's (completely unrelated) T&M business, while the other biotech / scientific instruments stayed with Agilent. I submitted my application electronically. After a month, I got a first phone interview, followed quickly by a second technical phone interview. After another two week delay without news, I was invited on a week's notice for a one-day marathon interview. Be prepared to - fly in and out the same day, - give a full-hour presentation on your research work, - submit to a day-long (9 hours, not counting a 20 min lunch "break") interview process. I did not leave the building until 5:30pm. Lengthy interviews are apparently the norm, even for interns. First, I was _not_ impressed by the quality of the people that I met. While the team clearly has deep electronics engineering skills (it is the old HP after all), the engineers, except for two people, seemed focused on a very narrow task and had no knowledge whatsoever of the overall system, product, or clients' needs. In a couple of interviews, I had to entertain very naive questions - about basic engineering problems that they clearly had and really should not. In fact, the majority of the engineers I interviewed with seemed to have been assigned recently to the division from other departments. Only very few people are left from the companies they bought the technology from (Molecular Imaging and Pacific Nanotechnologies). Second, I will admit that I am a geek with no communications skills whatsoever. I am also used to work with the nerdiest of engineers. Yet I have never been to a place where so many people seemed to belong to the autism spectrum - bordering on incoherence in a couple of cases. Third, the top manager took a very bunt and aggressive approach to the preliminary job negotiation, telling me they had many candidates for the position (a flat-out lie, as I figured out later) and pointing out that a relocation package was NOT offered. Not that I care, but it is a huge red flag for a $100k+ job. I was told explicitly that no feedback on my interview performance would be given and that I should expect to wait four weeks for an decision. I was also never told (but learned from an internal contact afterwards) that the Systems Engineer position was at the "expert" level, the highest technical grade in the company, and basically equivalent to a technical lead. So much for giving you a fair way of negotiating the salary. The expected answer did not come - not even an "no but no thanks" email. Apparently, the new trend in recruiting is to leave candidates dangling until they wither on the vine. After a couple of weeks, I attempted to contact HR multiple times. The recruiter does not bother to answer the phone or reply to voicemail / email. Period. I escalated to the first-level manager, who I had a good contact with. I finally received an answer, telling me that "the position was still open and that no decision has been made with respect to your application". I followed up two weeks with the upper-level manager, who replied with one line: "We are still looking for the right candidate(s)." In parallel, I learned from the grapevine that there were three candidates, one of whom withdrew. The second had knowledge of STM only and was eliminated. I know I was, at one point, their top candidate. In addition, the job requirements called for a very rare breed - a Ph.D. with a decade of experience building (not just using) AFM instruments and a triple threat with mechanical, electrical and software engineering skills. There are perhaps 100 of us with those skills and experience worldwide (not kidding). I know that the position has been reposted a couple of times. The silent treatment I was given is therefore puzzling. To this day, I do not know what happened exactly. I am not sure they do either :-( Lessons: Keysight is a large company. Large corporations are lazy, slow, inhuman. Expect to be treated like dirt, even if you are a very senior candidate. God forbids if you don't have a degree or skills.
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