I applied online. I interviewed at Zoom Communications (San Francisco, CA) in Mar 2021
Interview
Recruiter screen, 1 coding screen DS/algorithms style, 1 screen system design style, 1 panel interview. There would have been one more interview with the hiring manager after that, but I only got to the panel interview.
This one one of the least well organized recruiting processes I've had with a large tech company; the interviews were rescheduled several times, I was asked to interview after 5PM to be interviewed by a team in China, despite this being a US job. The people interviewing me had only been at the company a few months (like 3), in the panel interview they didn't seem prepared with questions or a process. The recruiter called me up after one of the technical rounds and asked about what sort of questions I was asked. It was almost like she was trying to prep a different candidate.
After my final interview I didn't hear back from the recruiter. I emailed to follow up a week later and was rejected.
Overall, the technical interviews were painfully easy. Like Leetcode easy or below. I finished one of them 30 minutes early and the interviewer didn't have a follow up question (That was not the final interview, either. this is one that I definitely passed). The panel interview was weird. They didn't seem that well prepared, and most of the questions were machine learning trivia; stuff that you could google and memorize that doesn't in my opinion show a great understanding of ds/ml. Also tough with a time zone difference and language barrier.
Lots of red flags based on the chaotic interview process, TBH. Might just be that they're hiring fast and their recruiters are overwhelmed, but either way it left a bad taste in my mouth.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Zoom Communications in Oct 2023
Interview
The interview process consisted of four rounds, which included interviews with the hiring manager, machine translation experts, a coding assessment, and machine learning experts. I truly appreciated the opportunity to engage with such knowledgeable professionals in the field, and it left a positive impression of Zoom as a company that values expertise and talent. However, the scheduling of these interviews was a significant pain point in the process. The second round of interviews, focused on machine translation, was rescheduled not just once or twice but four times. This level of scheduling disruption was highly unexpected, especially for a reputable company like Zoom. It created significant inconvenience and unnecessary stress throughout the process. Moreover, after completing all four rounds of interviews, I was surprised to learn that there was another round, which was essentially a repetition of the second round. This added an extra layer of confusion and inconsistency to the process, which was rather frustrating. While I understand the importance of thorough interviewing to ensure the best fit for a position, I believe that such rescheduling and redundancy in the process do not align with the expectations one would have from a well-established company like Zoom. It would be highly beneficial for both candidates and your team to streamline the process and minimize any unnecessary disruptions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was my biggest challenge during my previous careers?
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Zoom Communications in Apr 2023
Interview
I answered all questions, including the coding test, correctly. However, I understand there are other factors when determining a fit, such as team/culture fit. However, I did feel like the interviewer did the interview just to do it rather than with actual interest (also because it was a substitute interviewer for one that was actually supposed to interview). Nevertheless, I wish the team best of luck.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Leetcode plus basic ML question like (did you do transformers, etc without actually trying to understand what we did, felt like a checklist)
I applied online. The process took 12 months. I interviewed at Zoom Communications
Interview
The status was updated to Interviewing and didn't hear from them anything. 1 year later got rejection saying thank you for interviewing with us. Might be some error on the portal, but they should check such stuff.