I applied through other source. I interviewed at Pinterest (Seattle, WA) in Jan 2021
Interview
1. the recruiter was the worst recruiter I've worked with in my entire professional life. She was so unhelpful, replied my emails so late, knew almost nothing about the role or the interview process just to mention a few.
2. I told her that I have one other offer and I need to know the feedback as fast as possible! So she called me yesterday and told the interview feedback was positive and they are waiting for the MLE L4 approval and in the meantime she asked my compensation expectations!
I didn't want to share my numbers before they give me any but she told me that she is not negotiating and she needs to know my expectations! So I shared my expectations and today she called and said they decided not to move forward!
The phone screen was a mix of behavioral questions and some basic technical concepts, which was a bit different from what I anticipated. After that, I faced a technical round that focused on implementing sparse matrix operations. To my surprise, the coding question was nearly identical to what I'd practiced in the algorithm section on PracHub just days before. The onsite interview included some more DSA challenges and a discussion on machine learning concepts, which helped me feel well-prepared. Overall, the experience was smooth, and I accepted the offer afterward.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement sparse matrix storage, addition, and multiplication
The assessment time was very short and harsh. There were lots of questions with a very limited time. I liked the other big companies' assessments better. For example, Meta and Google assessments are through talking to a person while coding.
I applied for the new grad MLE position. The process included an online assessment, a 20-minute HR call, and four onsite interviews (two coding and two machine learning system design).