IntraLinks Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jul 2007 in Boston, MA (took 1 week)

I had a technical phone screen first, which I passed. It was very technical, but OK. Then I came in for a written test and a whiteboard test. I was supposed to meet with a manager first, but he got tied up and didn't show up. I spoke with an HR guy instead just to kill the 15 minutes while the 2nd interveiwer is ready. The written test was awful. It was about a 1.5 years ago, so I don't remember exactly, but I think that there were 15 questions in this test and I had 2 minutes for each question. The interviewer gave me pen and paper, started the stop watch and said that he will be back in 30 mins. The questions were like: "design the best algorithm to parse the string". I am detail-oriented and usually take time to think over things, so 2 minutes per question was awful for me. When the interviewer came back we finished the questions together and he said that I still did well. After that the next guy came in and I was supposed to present a solution to a problem on a whiteboard and explain it to him, which I did. I wished that there were other people in the room too besides that guy. The test was very open-ended and the interviewer himself could not suggest anything when I asked his opinion, or was instructed not to do so. He also could not clearly communicate the test to me. So after spending 6 hours in the basement room with no windows and no lunch I was told that the company needs have changed and they are now looking for a an architect!
Well, at least it was good practice, but I could find a better use for 6 hours of my day...