Interviews north and south
News ·Sunday October 2, 2011 @ 17:52 EDT (link)
This is just a brief note to file away dates, written 2012-11-27.
Monday: working on the "RT" (Render Target) abstraction for Word; checked in a fix for region performance improvements: regions should still use GDI for calculations even in D2D (v1), because they're massively faster.
Tuesday: Flying out to New York, NY for Bloomberg interview. Airports are as much fun as ever and I don't miss it. At least someone else is paying! Took a cab to the hotel, a small but clean place called the Da Vinci; it took the cabbie (from JFK) a little while to find it.
Wednesday: Bloomberg interviews. Actually headed over (by cab from my hotel) to Solomon-Page (technical recruiter) first to meet with Darren Ogoff, and then their tech director, Steven Wolff. The morning interviews at Bloomberg had fallen through—a principal had called in sick and they couldn't find a replacement—so I cooled my heels in a conference room for a few hours. Fortunately I had brought a book. Then I had a technical interview with Steven, which went well, although he noted I was almost a "low talker".
I had interviewed with Steven earlier via Skype (I had to create an account). I've still got my solutions to the longer exercises: there was a skills assessment (Excel worksheet), then a question to reverse the last five items in a linked list, implementing a stack then using it to implement an RPN calculator, and some shorter items, most of which were pasted to him over Skype: reverse a string, implement strcmp, reference-counted string, and binary search a string array allowing for empty entries.
For lunch, I went with Darren to a nearby deli and got a pita sandwich, which I brought back to "my" conference room to eat. I really didn't get to see much of the city, although I doubt it would have helped.
I took another cab to Bloomberg, went in, had my photo taken and a temporary ID made in the lobby, then passed a guarded turnstile (using the ID) to get to elevators. I was met on I think the 5th floor by someone from Bloomberg, allowed to stash my bags, and waited to be met and taken the rest of the way up to I think the 30th? floor. It's been almost a year, but I believe I was then taken to an interview room (small room, table, metal chairs, Bloomberg terminal, glass walls, very modern) and interviewed by two pairs of developers.
I don't recall all the questions, although I do recall one that took me longer than it should have: the old "use an array to count frequencies" trick (array[ch]++ rather than, say, using a hash or tree map). They were decently in-depth that I could tell they knew their stuff, but not difficult. Eventually a manager of the department (trading solutions?) asked me some questions then showed me around where I would be working if I got an offer. To be honest, I was unimpressed: I would have part of one long table in a room of such tables; little privacy and noisy. He took me past a display with old Bloomberg terminals, which was interesting, and past a "free food" area which rather put Microsoft's kitchens to shame, where I picked up some chips. I asked if there were any prohibitions on employees trading (outside work), and he said no.
Afterward, I took a cab back to Solomon-Page, since Darren was anxious to talk about the interviews; he was glad they went well (that I was there so long, past, I think, the scheduled time, was a good sign) but I couldn't stay: had to get a cab to the airport to catch my flight. (I was, of course, later reimbursed for all costs, except cap tips; there was a bit of a misunderstanding where someone in their accounting department dropped the tax on the flights, but it was eventually cleared up.)
Thursday: Wheels down, wheels up… I flew out to St. Peterburg (TPA), and was greeted by warmth and palm trees. Freedom Scientific put me up in a La Quinta (Ulmerton and 34th—with a Chick-fil-A right next door, which we couldn't get in Washington). It was a "regular" hotel, i.e., a room with two queens or a king and space to walk around in, not like the rather cramped room in NYC, and probably cheaper to boot. I was also given a rental car (Chevy Aveo). I settled in and ordered a wake-up call to be up in plenty of time for interviews the next day.
Friday: Someone let me in the door (swipe-card access, like most places), and I sat in a small lobby with only an "Authorized Personnel Only" sign keeping me from the offices. I think I met with Miguel first; he was my main phone contact. I was put in a conference room, offered coffee, water, etc., and then questioned by various interviewers. I remember I definitely talked to Sriram and Nataliya, and Glenn (CTO) over the phone (he works remotely, and is blind), then went to lunch with Rob (a director—manager/team lead anywhere else) and talked to Carl (the other director, both reporting to Miguel, VP of Software Engineering) after lunch. Sriram and Nataliya asked some coding questions, where I wrote up solutions on the whiteboard or paper (tree traversal, that sort of thing); the interviews were not quite as rigorous as Bloomberg, but certainly sufficient for screening (if the interviewers are listened to!; the area is a bit of a seller's market).
I recall Rob asked about getting things done, dealing with resistance to ideas, that sort of thing, and I talked about making a business case to build things a certain way to persuade that what I wanted to do was the right thing—which I've done a few times (yes, I accepted their offer; Bloomberg's was higher, but factoring in cost of living and having to live in NYC, not enough to persuade me to work there).
Saturday: They were kind enough to pay for me to stay another day to look around the area; so I went to downtown St. Pete's, talked to a realtor and learned a bit about homes and pricing, and generally explored the area. I was rather expecting to get an offer, and the warm and sun was pleasant contrasted with Washington's rain and perpetual cloudy gloom; and prices for houses and apartments were reasonable, and they were decent-sized, not cramped (or hours of commute away) like NYC.
Sunday: Flew back to Redmond, and made plans for breaking the news to my boss….
Books finished: The Myth of the Robber Barons.
