I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at SenseTime (Shanghai, Shanghai) in Sept 2021
Interview
There are two rounds of interviews. The first focuses on knowledge of deep learning, and the second involves solving medium-level LeetCode problems. and it's about 30 minutes in one round.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is a neuron in the context of artificial neural networks? Can you explain its components? Explain the difference between supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning. What is backpropagation and why is it important? Can you explain the concept of overfitting and underfitting? How might you combat them? Describe the function of an activation function in a neural network. Can you give examples of a few common ones?
I sent my CV and an HR contacted me after 1 week. There were two rounds of technical interviews via phone call. After two weeks HR contacted me to confirm the starting date.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- Details about my publications
- python programming
I applied in-person. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at SenseTime
Interview
Nothing unusual speaking of the interview questions. However, the HR team is unprofessional in every possible way. I was interviewed at the beginning of October. I have been waiting for 4 weeks or so without getting reliable feedback. They said "We are stilling waiting for a response. We cannot guarantee a specific time". A week later, they said "Sorry, but the leaders were on a business trip last week. We will see what we can do this week". Then finally came the offer. Good news, right? No. They told me to upload the certificate of my current degree, which I don't have cuz I've graduated. During this time, a total of three HR in different offices have contacted me and asked me the same question "what's the name of the other HR in charge of your case". The three interviewers knew exactly that I have graduated, and it seems that the three HRs were completely unaware of this. Eventually, they told me that I have two options: 1) get a university offer and upload it 2) be prepared for another round of FTE interview. And they also said “We take internship seriously. Our company has a high standard of interns. Our company policy is inflexible and I'm sorry about that.”
Come on, it’s simply an internship interview. Why so serious? And do you really need 3 HRs working on the same thing without information sharing? Why in the **ll do you have to deliver an offer in the first place? Why not simply declining it and I can just walk away. It's totally fine. I’ve worked at Microsoft and interned at Google, I should say that the recruiting process of both companies took about a week.
So basically from what I’ve gathered, I can only come up with the following:
Management is a mess. The recruiting team does not know the recruiting process very well.
The company is not a meritocratic one, probably brim with too much centralization. Do not get me wrong, I know all companies are governed by a few people and I have worked in a startup for 1 year. Nevertheless, when everything should be approved by the highest leader before its enactment, I mean literally everything, I don't think this company is a normal one. There's absolutely a difference between d*********ip and power partition.
OK, maybe this is too much. The point I want to make is there's something wrong with the recruiting process. And I sincerely hope that SenseTime can do something about this to improve its established recognition around the world. It would be a shame if its recruiting cannot match its current status.