After applying and talking to a recruiter, there were multiple 1-1 interviews, as well as an all day online panel interview with about 10 people. The interviews were far from being pleasant - vast majority of interviewers were very rude and condescending. The feeling that people at Calico were giving was very elitist and pretentious, as if you are a priori not worthy of working there with them, unless you can change their mind and prove yourself during the scheduled interview slot. The attitude was very unfriendly, a lot of people didn't smile back, were short, and acted as if the interview was a huge inconvenience. The questions asked were heavily, heavily technical with no personality evaluation whatsoever - it felt more like if you were to unexpectedly walk into a final exam in college. Some of the science-related questions asked were not applicable to the position, and were never mentioned in the job description as well. During my interview with one of the PIs, on my question about what qualities would constitute a perfect employee on his opinion, I was told to go look at the job description and that it's self explanatory. A few people did not leave any remaining time for me to ask questions at all. The interview process took about 3 weeks, followed by 3 weeks of silence prior to rejection. They also ask for references before the panel interview, which is somewhat weird.

I got an email to schedule a phone screen 2 weeks after I applied online. The recruiter was very pleasant to talk to. A week after I got an email to schedule a Google Meet call with the hiring manager. I got the rejection a week after.