I recently had a chance to interview for the Data Scientist position at Robinhood. Cleared the technical assessment, and was onto the next round i.e. the technical video screen. As soon as I joined the meeting, without so much as a greeting the interviewer started telling me about the format we are going to follow. I was thrown off but I thought to myself, ok straight to the point, still not bad. He ordered me to grab a pen and paper and I had it in hand anyway so I started taking notes. He read out the question in the most robotic manner that is possible and threw some numbers at me. He spoke fast so I asked him to slow down so I could note these numbers down but he did not pay any heed. I was starting to get angry because I am of the opinion, that it is not just the interviewees who need to be at their best behavior, the interviewers represent the company and they need to put their best foot forward as well. Anyway, I repeated all the numbers I could manage to note down to make sure I did not miss anything. He replied yes. What amazes me is that even though he read out all this information the way he framed the question(or the lack of it) was uncanny. Nevertheless, I asked some clarifying questions and went onto answering them. I think I got the answer in one shot but he wanted me to elaborate. So I tried. He interrupted me every now and then saying this is right and this is wrong. Fair enough. But then he started giving me contradictory information. I was frustrated. I was hitting myself on the inside thinking what is it that I was missing. After 3-4 rounds like this, where I said something, he gave me some information that contradicted with the things he said earlier, he decided we should move on to the next question. The next question was a case study kind of question. I think I answered really well given the fact he said he smiled(once in the entire hour). We went back and forth, discussed my answer and when the time was up, he wished me luck in my job search and ended the meeting. Today I receive an email from the recruiter saying they are moving on to other candidates. I have had my share of bad interviews before. I am not perfect but the point I am trying to make here is that neither are the interviewers. And why do we not have a process/movement(lack of better word) where we do something about it. Why cannot companies make sure they are sending their best interviewers to interview us? I am sure all of us go through pre-interview jitters. And the whole process drains you in ways you cannot put in words. While it's all over in 45-60 minutes, yet no one talks about the hours that went into researching the company, the role, the preparation only to be let down by the quality/mood of the interviewer. I know I will probably go through more such interviews. As I narrated this story to my friends, I heard horror stories far worse than mine. Which only proves why it is important to have a good, friendly, and tight interview process. #tech #robinhood #interview #datascience
This is why many say interviewing is mostly luck. Too bad you didn’t get a chance to show all of your skills. Best of luck in your next interview.
You dodged a bullet! Why work with these assholes? Companies demonstrate their culture via the interview process. As you said, interviews are a two-way road.
Best of luck. Sorry you had to go through this .
Sounds like an unpleasant experience, but one thing to consider - this could be a way to see how well you’d perform under stress/uncertainty. Keep your head up and continue applying, you’ll find the right place for you.
Dude, I submitted my take home at 9am on Monday, got rejected at 9.30am the same day. Guess it was the same interviewer who reviewed my work. Robinhood hiring process is shit.
Lol, agreed Robinhood is shit. They seem full of themselves, had a negative experience too 1. Recruiters calls were always at least 10 minutes late 2. The data science interviewer jumps straight to questions, and there’s limited opportunity to ask questions. Interviewer tried to crack a joke though, but wasn’t funny - credit for trying though 3. Got a reply that they’d like to move forward, and then an update that they decided to pause with no explanation.
Thanks, can you share what was asked
What was the question OP?
some interviewers are just horrible. sorry you had the experience