IBM Extreme Blue Intern Interview Questions & Reviews

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Interview Experience [?] Based on 2 ratings

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4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Received and Accepted Offer

Interviewed Dec 2010 (took 2 months)

Initially heard about the program through an alumni from my campus that's at the company. Eventually applied online for the internship and he wrote me a recommendation that I believe helped greatly in getting me an interview.

After submitting the online application, I believe I waited for about a week before being contacted about references and their "IPATO" test which is a basic intelligence test. I believe it was after finishing this part that I scheduled my technical interview. Scheduled my technical interview for after my finals (a few weeks later).

The technical interview was really something different from most software technical interviews. I wasn't asked to program or to create an algorithm in a pressurized environment. Instead, I was asked to explain what I understood about different concepts and the interview was extremely comfortable with a great flow. At the end of the interview, he told me that he's not officially able to confirm whether or not I can move forward, but that he thought I had what it took and he'd push me forward. (Similarly, a friend of mine had an interview that he thought had gone well initially and that he said was really a relaxed conversation, but at the end of the interview, was told that he was not going to be pushed forward.)

I was then contacted as being part of a finalist's pool and was told that I'd be given potential teams to work with that they thought I'd be a good match for. If the team made sense to me, I could accept an offer from the team. If not, I could go back into the pool. Then, I was scheduled an interview with a team.

Talked to the two technical mentors that would be mentoring me and the manager of the program (4 people on that call including me.. my suggestion: if you want to work at IBM, get comfortable with lots of people on lots of phone calls). Phone call went well enough and after a 45 minute call, I was called back by the manager of the program, who told me that I'd been accepted.

Interview Questions

Types of questions in the technical interview:

- What does final mean in java? (I gave an answer about variables). What would you guess it means if it's on a function?

- What is the difference between an inner and outer join in SQL?

- What is REST?

Answer Question

Types of questions in second interview:

- What kind of fields are you interested in?

- Here's what we're doing, what thoughts or ideas do you have for it?

Answer Question

Negotiation Details

I didn't really take the opportunity to negotiate. It seems like it could have been possible as I was asked if the offer was "good enough", but made the mistake of not be being prepared to push the envelope here.

They already had a relocation package, paid housing for the duration of the internship, and pretty decent hourly wage (although I have been paid a little higher before). They also pay overtime properly (which isn't always the case at some companies). So, it wasn't a bad deal at all.

Other Details

I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, an IQ/Intelligence Test, a Skills Test and a Background Check.

Helpful Interview?

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Inappropriate?

4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Mar 2010 in Ottawa, ON (Canada) (took 4+ weeks)

I had a phone screener, with basic programming questions, followed by an in-depth technical phone interview several weeks later, where I was asked more detailed questions about compilers, OS's and more.

After a while longer, I was finally told that they were not hiring me for the position, though it took quite a while to find out.