I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Illumina in Jan 2017
Interview
I applied for the Product Engineer 1 position at Illumina. I was prompted to perform a digital video interview where I recorded myself responding to a set of 7 questions that appeared on screen. Each question had a minute and a half prep period, followed by a 4 minute answering period where i would record my response. Questions ranged from simple biological questions to questions about work experiences. I felt the questions were quite fair and easily answerable.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe the structure of from a high level DNA as a cartoonist might.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Illumina
Interview
After applying, I received an email saying I had been selected for a video interview process. I was sent a link and given a certain amount of time to complete video questions, where you had "one take" to record your responses.
After that I was told that I was selected to interview over-the-phone with an interviewer. The interview lasted approximately 30 minutes.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
If you could create the perfect job for yourself, what would it be?
I applied online. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Illumina (San Diego, CA) in Aug 2017
Interview
First sent an email with a link to a video interview in which prompts are displayed and time is allotted for thinking and then for recording a response. The recruiter reached out and a phone interview was set up with a senior engineer/hiring manager. She asked some coding/computer questions, some questions about DNA, some scenario questions, and some personality questions. Then, I was brought onsite (cost of gas, hotel, parking, food etc. paid for) and had a 4-5 hour interview with a few of the people on the team. They don't give you a substantial break to eat or rest (which is probably like that for a reason) so make sure to be well fed and have water/snacks! (The last interview was the hardest and at that point I was exhausted and hungry.) The in-person interviews consisted of normal interview questions as well as challenge problems with some relation to the position/company (statistics, chemistry, process). All-in-all, I felt extremely under qualified for this position from the beginning but somehow got to the last interview. I don't really know what they saw on my resume that made it seem I was a good fit, but I'm glad I went along with it and got the interview experience.
Interview questions [7]
Question 1
Explain mean, median, mode like you would to a 5 year old.