I was very impressed by my interview experience at Synack. It was a very professional, efficient and honest process. I was thankful for the opportunity to speak directly to VPs and Managers alike, and felt at ease given their interest in unearthing my passion for the role and confidence in my ability to execute as opposed to confronting any perceived gaps in my experience. Once an offer was extended, Synack's Global Head of People, Sonia Mathia, acted as a trusted partner the deliberation process. I valued her candid appraisal of the opportunity as well as her empathy for my circumstances at the time. I would undoubtedly recommend Syanck to anyone eager to work alongside very passionate and enthusiastic people making waves in the cybersecurity space.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Only advice I can give is to come prepared with a sound understanding of who you are, what skills/experience you can bring to the position you are interviewing for, your interest in the role and cybersecurity at large. The rest will play out as it should
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Synack (Redwood City, CA)
Interview
Very easy and quick process from initial contact to my last email. They are a small company of about ~75ish and likely working out their kinks as far as the recruiting process goes. After a very positive chat with their in-house recruiter, I was asked to come in to meet the team during their lunch hour. There was some confusion here. I overprepared and ultimately felt I did a great job, considering the circumstances. I was asked in for a very casual noon chat where I would meet the team and be able to ask questions over food. I therefore did not eat lunch, and when I arrived I was taken into a meeting room to have a traditional interview with separate employees. I'm used to startups being less structured but it was definitely awkward to hear an employee say to me "I don't know why they said it was a chat over lunch" and they asked if I wanted to take food to-go as they walked me out (no..). Additionally, I was asked to do a phone interview but a last minute emergency came up for their employee; I learned this nearly an hour and a half after our interview was supposed to begin. It was rescheduled and then went well. In each of my discussions with Synack, everyone seemed incredibly enthusiastic about my previous experience. My exprience speaking to their employees was very positive and the company culture is very "work hard, play hard" which is great. Oddly, each employee separately mentioned that they were not necessarily looking for someone who only had experience in security, or when asking me about my dream job they would say "it doesn't have to be in security!!" but ultimately they went with someone who had direct security experience. Due to some of the aforementioned gaffes, I was not terribly let down. I appreciated how quickly they made their decision.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
If you had $5 million to start whatever company you wanted, what would you create?