The hiring manager reached out to me via LinkedIn (later on, HR checked whether it piqued my curiosity that the hiring manager reached out. So having the hiring manager reach out is a calculated process).
After I responded favorably to the manager's email, we talked on the phone about my past work and what I'd like to do. He gave me a few basic Android questions: threads, threadpool, surfaceview... pretty much anything relevant to threaded video decoding and showing video on the screen.
The interview with the hiring manager went well and a couple of days later I had a technical phone screen with an Android developer.
The Android developer also talked about my past work experiences, and discussed what he did at work. Of course, he asked a few technical Android questions. He also touched on threadpools.
The technical phone screen must have been OK because HR then sent me an email to have me come in to their Los Gatos office. HR scheduled a flight and hotel ASAP - I was surprised how quickly they were moving.
The first in-person interview was with the hiring Manager. He struck me as a decent manager that's hands off and will let me get on with my work. Again, we just discussed past work experiences on my resume. I believe this interview went well.
The second in-person interview was with the Android developer I spoke with on the phone. He wanted me to use the white board to describe the architecture I came up with for my previous project. He then asked questions about it - why I implemented things the way I did. I believe that this interview went well.
The third in-person interview was where it all started to fall apart. He did not introduce himself. He sat down without shaking hands or making eye contact. I then also sat down and he pushed a piece of paper in my face with C++ code. The first task was to figure out a variable scope problem. Afterward, he pushed two additional pieces of paper in front of me with Java code; he wanted me to figure out a class modifier problem (public / private / protected / none) and how it relates to scope across packages. Afterward, using the same code, he wanted me to give the output to the log - there were several "printlog()" statements at specific sections of a class: constructor and static block.
This guy's job was to test knowledge corner cases.
The fourth in-person interview was on :
1) on the white-board, show a class that implements a stack with infinite depth (using a linked-list)
2) write a recursive function that solves the equation X[n] = X[n-1] + X[n-2] where X is an array that contains at least two integer values and the function should solve the question for the 3rd value in the array.
3) THE SALAD TEST!! This is some weird psycho test where he brings in two salads and asks you to choose one. Note1: this interview will take place during lunch hour. Note2: he won't eat with you, he'll watch !! Even though I complained about being uncomfortable about this situation (and was pushing the salad away!) he insisted "No, you go eat!". So I ended up snacking on the lame salad out of peer pressure.
I recommend that you take the salad and toss it in the trash and say "I prefer burgers". I think that will win you that particular interview.
