The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Zoox (Foster City, CA)
Interview
take-home coding challenge (just leetcode questions), phone screen (questions about Java and very simple coding question that's more design and less "leetcode"), onsite. One of the interviewers was completely emotionless and seemed like he really didn't want to be there. He also was really rude and kept telling me to "just stop talking [about my thought process] and write code"... Other interviewer was on his phone during the interview. Most of the interviewers were kind though, but I think the negative rounds really cancel out the positive because they were very un-enjoyable. Also was very hard to get an idea of how the company is doing. Lot of time was spent explaining why not to work at Zoox competitors as opposed to why one should work at Zoox...
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
One onsite round was brain teasers because this of course lets them know that you are very smart just like them who also are very smart. Most of them are math-related, but a couple aren't. Most coding rounds were honestly just a lazy copy and paste from a group of medium-hard Leetcode questions. One coding round is linear algebra heavy. Not really a hard question, but it's one of those things where unless you routinely brush up on your linear algebra skills or have a math background you might not come to a solution to.
A lot of their questions have a sort of trick and aren't really the type you'd be able to solve without practicing similar problems or already knowing the solution beforehand. Seems like they are less interested in thought process and critical thinking skills (aside from the brainteaser round) and more interested in if you know/get the solutions to their variety of questions within an abnormally shorter amount of time than other places.
Recruiter call to go over resume and position, tech screen (coding challenge), onsite with four rounds (coding challenge, system design, math and problem solving (MAPS), and one with team manager), leadership call.
interviewed at zoox for software engineer. had their famous brain teaser, a c++ round, 1 domain problem solving and 1 hiring manager. the hiring manager apparently has no interest and was unprofessional. The feedback from him is an unfinished sentence, according to my recruiter. Others are ok.
It was a live coding screening. It lasted an hour. It was a planning problem involving a lane change maneuver given other vehicles on road. There wasn’t much dialogue, just coding.
