How should I prepare best for the case interview? How about the behavioral interview? Are both of these interviews conducted by engineers?
I prepped for my case interview with YouTube videos that explain the process. The behavioral and case interviews will be conducted by two different people. Behavioral interview is important, but if you don’t pass the case, it won’t matter how well you did in the behavioral. While you will have to get the case “right”, you will still be evaluated on other things during the case such as your ability to maintain composed under pressure, the types of questions you ask your interviewer when seeking more information, etc. Keep in mind your interviewer will start by giving you just enough information to get you started, you can - and are expected - to ask questions. Your interviewer wants you to succeed, so take advantage of this. I think what really helped me was talking through my thought process aloud even as I was writing out the math to figure out the formulas. Leverage this as a method for also giving your interviewer insight on your communication skills. Your interviewer will help guide you - listen intently. The candidates who fail despite the help/steering of the interviewer are the ones who don’t realize that the interviewer is actually trying to steer you towards the correct answer. The ones who pass not only get to the right answer, but are able to turn the case interview into a dialogue instead of a performance. Good luck!
I bombed.my case about 5 years ago. I just got super flustered and my mind went blank. That was the first interview of the day, after that I just goofed off because I knew it was over.
@cheeger sorry to hear that! It’s definitely nerve-racking and I always have to prepare my referrals by warning them that C1’s interview process is the most grueling I’ve ever experienced. I’ve done countless panel interviews and ones that last 5 hours but never had a case interview or the online assessment before C1. Under 15% of applicants make it to an offer, so I’ve heard. I’ve referred wonderfully competent former colleagues who didn’t pass the case and some didn’t even pass the online assessment.
Only the technical interview is conducted by an engineer. The case is supposed to be conducted by a Sr. Manager or higher, but I think they'll occasionally have a higher up engineer do it. I think the behavioral is conducted by a manager person too.
I believe there's a wider range of people who conduct the behavioral interview. I was interviewed by someone in HR but they seem to usually be manager level.
Use the info on the website to help prep for the other interviews. I would study on oop though. Several people get weeded out by our tech interview nowadays. Faking it won’t work.
Why study oop? I only recall the technical interview being algorithmic Also, how the hell do you fake it on a technical interview?
They definitely asked me OOP questions in my interview a while back
From what I remember, the questions were leetcode easy. Behavioral and cultural fit is huge though so be ready to demonstrate that you fit it (I guess check Glassdoor for question examples). And yes, by an engineer or two.
Yeah, our technical interviews are typically not what'll weed people out