There were 3 steps. First a technical interview, where I was asked about image processing, programming (python), and a bit about how I work (time management, priority setting, things like that). Then there was the HR interview, where I was asked those typical "tell me about a time when ..." questions and other personal fit questions. Then the 3rd step was a challenge project. They send some data and instructions a few days in advance of when the interview is scheduled, and you have to complete the project, send your results the day before, then give a presentation to a panel at the time of the interview to explain what you did. Here's where the problem lies. I was told to not spend more than 4-5 hours on this project. However, the task was very specific to satellite image processing and since my background in image processing is in a different field (which I made clear from the beginning), I had to spend considerably more than this to understand how to work with the data (which was entirely new to me) and finish the project. In the end I successfully completed the task, but during the interview I had the impression that they hadn't even read the script I sent them. I had been told that I would be questioned on how and why I did what I did, but instead the interviewers seemed to focus a lot on what I didn't do (the steps that would come next) rather than on what I did do, and asked several other technical questions that could have been asked in the first interview. My biggest problem with all of this is that, while I sent them a fully automated script which they can use to process images from that specific detector, I can't even put it on a portfolio or anything like that, because the data they send is confidential and apparently marked to be traced back to you if it is made public. Basically it's free labor, and if you don't get the job you get nothing out of those hours spent on this challenge. It's honestly disrespectful to the candidate's time. Especially since in the end I was told that I didn't get the position because I didn't have the specific technical knowledge that they wanted, and it would take too long to train me, which could have easily been concluded after the 1st interview. Everything else was a waste of everyone's time.