National Instruments interview questions

Initial communications were via email with a tech writer, setting up a date and time for the interview. The first interview itself was with two tech writers, who asked what I knew about National Instruments (hint: it does not make calculators). Apparently employees volunteer to engage in recruiting new peers; they called it "extracurricular" activity. Very early in the interview I was asked for my salary requirements, a question I skirted by saying something about making sure the position is a good fit before discussing pay. It's rumored that NI does not pay very well but that the work is interesting and the culture is very laid back. There were some behavioral questions, like "describe a time when you had difficulty working with a group" and "tell us about a contribution you made in your last job." Another question was "imagine one activity you'd be doing three years from now if you end up working here." They wanted a very specific activity description. The two NI employees were open about their job duties and the company culture, which seems to favor healthy work-life balance and physical activity. There is even a primary care physician at the Austin facility, an onsite gym for $15 a month, and free showers for those who like to jog on the trails or commute by bicycle. The editing test, which was given at the end of the interview, was an example of "getting started" instructions for one of NI's actual products, with errors added after the fact. It could help to be very familiar with the products and their manuals. It was supposed to be 20 minutes, but I set the chronometer on my watch and was stopped at just over 18 minutes, which barely gave me time to finish one pass and did not allow for a second pass. A few weeks later, I was contacted and asked again for my salary requirements as well as my current salary. This time, I used numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics and the Society for Technical Communicators to provide a range that would be acceptable. I also totaled up my wages and benefits at my current job. It didn't take long after that for them to decide that they did not need to interview me a second time, so I'm afraid the rumors are correct. NI may be a great place to work, but it probably didn't want to match my current compensation, much less improve upon it.