I applied online. I interviewed at Lam Research in Jan 2025
Interview
Got an interview invite the day after I submitted my resume. First, it's a 20-minute phone screen. Got a text from HR by the end of the day, informing me that I'll be invited on-site.
On-site was a 50-minute presentation about my PhD work and three-panel interviews with multiple people. The onsite can be quite intense, got a lot of questions, some are really detailed about the research, and some are open-ended which requires a lot of instant thinking.
The position focuses on hardware and requires hardware troubleshooting experience. I'd definitely recommend emphasizing this if you were invited for an interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
If we were to commercialize your instrument, what can we do to make sure we could make 10 exact the same products?
3 panel interviews with group members, managers, and senior directors. The overall environment is friendly. Asked some behavioral questions and had casual chattings. The senior manager sometimes may focus more on the background and decided if you fit in this position.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Your background may fit for another position, so why did you apply for this one?
I had a positive interview experience with a clear and organized process. The interviewers were respectful, engaging, and genuinely interested in my experience. I especially appreciated the focus on real-world problem solving and collaboration. Overall, it gave me a good impression of the team and company culture.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Which step of 8D do you think is the most important?
Had an initial screening call and then a Teams interview. The initial screening call was 20 min, and the entire Teams interview was 7 rounds of 30 min each.
Ghosted after that
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Principal component analysis and an example to answer it.