I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Samsara in Jan 2022
Interview
Pretty standard panel interview process. There was a phone screen by an initial recruiter who I believe was an employee of the company, then you get assigned to a more senior and more internal recruiter who handles your actual interviews. Technical questions were straightforward, and they aren't trying to trick you. You are scored internally. I was told that I did get good "passing scores", and the panel that interviewed me wanted to hire me. They told me that they had decided to offer me the position, but then a VP removed the head count from their department and moved it to another team. They said my interview scores were valid for 6 months and that, in theory, if a spot opened up, I could just receive a job offer. They never contacted me and when I reached out to the internal recruiter, he didn't recognize who I was (seemed to think I was a new candidate) and again never followed up after promising to a second (or third maybe) time. I think he is just really, really busy, which is understandable but it is very frustrating.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe how you would implement a JSON parser in plain C without use of a library.
First a HR call - goes into project details, what you're looking for, etc
Got connected to a Hiring Manager for a project deep dive + TPS round within the hour. TPS question not too difficult - not leetcode.
live coding session, create a md to html translator. It was all live with unique requirements making it more difficult than I expected using regex. The interviewer was not personable and it was a very uncomfortable experience
I made it to the technical screen and didn't proceed further. Recruiter call was the usual experience dive, comp discussion, and why you are looking for a job. The technical screen was a string parsing question.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Technical: String parsing. Be comfortable with regex