Cepheid Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Mar 6, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 5 ratings 
“Easy” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 5 ratings
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| 1–5 of 5 Cepheid Interviews | Sort by |
Senior Software Engineer at Cepheid
Posted Mar 6, 2012
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 in Sunnyvale, CA (took 3 weeks)
My initial contact was through the HR department, who took control of the whole interview process. Everything was well-organized, but took some time to align multiple schedules. It was a little on the slow side, but very thorough. Interview was mostly technical with other engineers asking very reasonable and somewhat easy (for me) technical questions and design problems. There was a take home problem to write a simple computer program. The interview took three trips to the company: interview with junior staff, interview with senior staff, and discussion of offer.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
The negotiation phase was reasonable. HR tried to get my compensation expectations to lower, but once I was able to talk to senior staff, I was able to get the compensation I really wanted.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Skills Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Senior QC Associate at Cepheid
Posted Sep 13, 2011
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2011 in Sunnyvale, CA (took 4 weeks)
I had phone interview with HR rep from the company. I was invited for on-site interview the following week. Everything went pretty well. It was a long interview which started at 8am and finished at 1pm. I met with several people from the director of quality system to the group members. The interview includes
1-on-1 interview with: HR, hiring manager, QC manager, QA director
group interview with: two QC groups with 3 members at a time.
The questions they asked are mainly focused on personality and behavior. They also asked common questions like "tell me about yourself" "most challenging projects and the outcome"
The most technical question they asked was the background of PCR. Many of them asked about my knowledge in resolving work related conflicts because the position is a lead position of the group.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Cepheid
Posted Sep 8, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 (took 1 week)
I heard about this opportunity through a friend, who forwarded my resume to the recruiter. They set up a phone interview, which went very well. The recruiter sent me a bunch of paperwork to fill out, and set up an in-person interview for the following week.
The day before I was supposed to go in, the recruiter calls me up late afternoon (4pm or so), telling me that she sent me an email requesting code samples and to complete a programming assignment that was due the next morning at 8am. This was spoken to me in a very demanding and confrontational fashion, and very unprofessional.
Here's the problem - I had professional engagements that evening and wouldn't be able to work on the assignment. The recruiter's response was "we have to reschedule the interview". When I inquired for more information, she stated that they always send out the assignment the night before the interview, and their policy is to reschedule if it can't be completed. Huh?
There was no previous discussion about an assignment until the afternoon before the interview, so you get the "pop quiz!" treatment. These assignments are never time sensitive, and they could've easily sent it to me the previous week, or at least asked if I was able to work on it the day before the interview.
After thinking about it, I declined and moved forward with to pursue other options. Why should I have to drop anchor for them and go through hoops like a circus animal, before I even start working there? Who knows what it's like working there...
Like a previous reviewer here, I would never recommend that company because of all the hoops that you have to jump through. BTW, I'm glad that I never did fill out the paperwork she sent me earlier.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, an IQ/Intelligence Test and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineering at Cepheid
Posted Aug 12, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 (took 1 week)
I was contacted by Cepheid through linkedin. I spoke with an internal recruiter on the phone, was sent a couple of questionnaires to fill out regarding my skill level, and was set up with a phone interview with a couple of members on the software engineering team.
The phone interview went really well. They mainly asked questions about Java threads, how I felt about working on backend/non web-based code and why I was leaving my current company. I got the sense that they were trying to determine if I left my previous company because of personal issues and if they could get me to say anything bad about my previous employer, which I would not do. They asked for sample Java code that I developed in the past which I happily provided to them.
A day afterwards the recruiter called to tell me that the phone interview went well and that they were going to set me up with a personal interview. A coordinator called me during that day to set me up. The coordinator told me that they would send me a schedule of the people that I would talking to later that day. The recruiter also called later to say she was looking forward to meeting with me and then gave me another assignment that took a couple of hours. I felt I did a very good job on the assignment. I was again told by the recruiter that she looked forward to meeting with me. I filled in a CDA and sent it back.
The coordinator never called me back. My e-mails and phone messages were never returned. This was very unprofessional. A couple of days after the interview was supposed to happen I got a call from the recruiter saying that they never set up an interview and they decided to pursue a candidate with more skills (of course, this was totally untrue. I have documented e-mails and voicemails clearly stating that I would be coming in for an interview and had already signed the CDA indicating which day I would be coming in). I wrote an e-mail to them a couple days later documenting this fact and telling them that I felt the way the last few days were handled were very unprofessional.
Finally, six days later, I recieved a response from Cepheid. It was essentially a standard e-mail thanking me for the work that I had done and seemed to indicate that there was a communication problem on their side (I assume for not getting back to me sooner though they weren't very clear). Other than that, I wasn't very satisfied with their response. They never let me know why they abrubtly terminated contact with me. I'm sure it wasn't anything technical since I'm positive I answered all the exercises in a clear and correct fashion. I would have had no problem discussing my solution with other software engineers had I been brought in for an interview. But, they never let me know any reasons. They never let me know whey they didn't set up the interview after telling me that I was coming in or anything else for that matter.
Overall, my experience was very negative. If I was asked by another software engineer if they should interview here, I would have to respond negatively. They'll put you through a lot of work, and even if you feel that you answered every question, correctly answered every exercise, jumped through all the hoops they threw at you, and told you of their positive impressions of you, they'll drop you before the interview begins (even when they tell you that you're being set up for an interview).
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Engineering at Cepheid
Posted Sep 11, 2009
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2009 (took a day)
The people I talked to were very nice and they seemed positive. Except they kept asking how I would deal with people who would be reluctant to help from another team. So it seemed like some members of the teams did not work well together (although this can be expected at most places). I didn't see much room for growth in the position I was interviewing for. The interview questions were quite simple and very general. The company overall seemed fine.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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