I applied online. I interviewed at Exa Corporation in May 2017
Interview
Applied online in February by emailing resume, cover letter and references directly to the company.
The HR department reached out to me three months later, in May, to schedule a half-hour preliminary/HR interview call. The scheduling was extremely unprofessional. The recruiter failed to call me at the scheduled time *twice*, and I had to reach out both times to them to reschedule. We finally connected on the third scheduled call.
The preliminary interview was straightforward. It was just a discussion of my qualifications and the details of the position I applied to. There were no behavioral traditional HR questions.
After the prelim interview, I was advanced to an hour-long technical interview on the phone. This was another relatively straightforward conversation about my background, though in greater technical detail than before. At the end of the interview, I was asked some object-oriented programming and algorithms quiz questions.
I felt that both the HR and technical interviews went well, and I was able to demonstrate my subject-matter knowledge in my answers. However the company completely ghosted me after the technical interview. I reached out twice to inquire about the next steps, express my interest and ask if I am still in consideration. I would have at least appreciated being told that they are moving on and looking at other candidates. What I got instead was complete radio silence.
Overall I felt that Exa's hiring process is incredibly unprofessional and frustrating. I will not be applying for any positions with this company in the future.
I applied through other source. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Exa Corporation (Boston, MA) in Nov 2017
Interview
The process took almost 2.5 months since the first screen. It was partly due to my busy schedule interviewing other companies, partly due to holidays in the month of November and December.
First telephonic interview was with the director of software engineering team. Detailed questions about the experience and algorithm question.
A take home test on computational geometry. I was given 48 hours to solve it.
One more telephonic interview with VP of software engineering. Lasted for about an hour. Questions on MPI, C++, past experience.
Called for full day onsite interview.
Onsite interview started with a 1 hour previous work/research experience presentation. Then one on one interviews with 9 people, each lasting for about 45 mins(overwhelming). I thought that some interview would be general work culture related questions and basic behavioral questions. But I was so wrong. All the interviews involved technical discussion. I was asked questions from C++, MPI, Algorithms, error finding in a code, pseudo code, fluid dynamics, numerical methods. It was an overwhelming but nice experience. I got a feeling that they made a lot of effort in putting together this interview. It seemed they wanted to show the kind of expertise they have and the people I will be interacting with if I get the job.
I also got the chance to ask a lot of questions about the work culture and project they work on.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
C++, Algorithms, Data structures, MPI, fluid dynamics, CFD.
Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Exa Corporation with 3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 50% positive. To compare, the company-average is 76.9% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 60 days to get hired, when considering 2 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Exa Corporation overall takes an average of 59 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Exa Corporation as a Software Engineer according to 2 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 40%
Presentation: 20%
Background check: 20%
Drug test: 20%
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