Monsanto Company Interview Questions & Reviews
Updated May 7, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 62 ratings |
Interview Experience [?] Based on 62 ratings
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Monsanto Company has 5,164 connections on Glassdoor
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Java Software Engineer at Monsanto Company
Posted Jul 27, 2010
3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2009 (took 3 days)
1st part of interview is 1-hour telephone screening where they hammer 1 question after another at you for the full hour. Questions are about OO principles, design patterns, Java (Collections framework, JDBC, synchronized, general stuff like overriding, overloading, static, try catch), JUnit, JSPs, Servlets, web descriptor, XML, database (delete vs. truncate, prepared vs. callable statements, different types of joins, stored procedure vs. trigger).
2nd part of interview (1st face to face) was a programming test where you sit at a laptop and write out the code and talk as you do it. (See my question #1)
3rd part of interview (same day as 1st face to face) was technical interview with a couple senior developers and a white board:
1. What do you know now that you wish that you knew when you first started out in development? Like, what would you tell someone just starting out.
4. What is your 5 and 10 year plan?
5. You know those days where you hate your job and you want to change career fields and those other days that make you love your job. What happens to make you love your job?
2. What are the benefits of test driven development?
3. In addition to test driven developments, what other agile development practices do you do and why?
6. Why do you want to work here?
7. At your current job, what is your typical day like? How much designing, coding, meetings, etc.
8. Do you code alone, with a team, what parts of application do you do? Do you work with an architecture team that does all of the design....
9. If you want to design applications and code that is more maintainable, then how would you do it?
they wrote this method on the board w/ a bunch of if statements. and if the object is this, do these 5 steps, else if it is one of these, do these 10 steps, etc. And then they asked me how i would change it to make it better.
For the last part of the interview (2nd face to face) you go from room to room (3-4 total) and you get asked questions by a panel of people. People included technical team leads, maybe an some architects, managers, etc. Some questions revolving coding (not technical, but more process oriented) and some questions about why you would want to work there.
Result:
They told me that they chose someone else with more project management experience.
What I've heard:
Although I really wanted a Java gig with 5 weeks of vacation, I'm glad that I didn't get and accept an offer. I haven't heard anything positive about working there.
Interview Questions
There's a manufacturing company that makes widgets.
It packages the widgets up in Shipments of 5-10 widgets.
Packaging the widgets into the package by:
serial number
creation date
and some way to package them
different plants choose different ways to package up their stuff.
Widgets contain:
serial number
color
(and will need creation data for the packaging algorithm).
Then it lists incoming test data and expected data to come out:
color, creation date
color, creation date, etc.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Human Resources Generalist at Monsanto Company
Posted Jun 15, 2010
3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2010 in Saint Louis, MO (took a day)
I was contacted by a recruiter who does not work for Monsanto. When I interviewed, I fell in love with the company and how cheerful everyone truly is. However, the position was a contract position with no real timeline as to when that might become a real job. Also, would have had to share a cubicle. In all honesty, the interview was very straight-forward and very realistic, which probably leads to lower turnover.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
Counter-offer from my company
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
More Monsanto Company Human Resources Generalist Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Senior Software Engineer at Monsanto Company
Posted Jun 13, 2010
4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2010 (took 2 days)
Had a telephonic interview, was then called for a face to face, where I had one coding assignment and 1 hour technical interview. After that a personality test where they checked if I am a good team player or not.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Personality Test, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Maintenance Manager at Monsanto Company
Posted Jun 4, 2010
3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2008 in Hyderabad (India) (took 2 days)
Interview taken by the immediate manager & then by HR & Panel of people
Negotiation Details
really good
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Java Developer at Monsanto Company
Posted May 28, 2010
4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2010 in Saint Louis, MO (took a day)
Had a phone interview. The interviewer was to the point, din;t allow me to beat around the bush if dint know an answer. He was very clear in what he wanted to know. The questions were from basic and if basics are answered then he goes in depth with really tough questions.
Interview Questions
What should be done if we do not have to close the hibernate session until the page is loaded.
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
More Monsanto Company Java Developer Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Finance at Monsanto Company
Posted May 13, 2010
2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2009 (took 3 weeks)
Brought in recent college graduate. Asked standard questions.
Interviewer is friendly, but the process seemed like a formality. What really matters is whats on the resume.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Director Business Intelligence at Monsanto Company
Posted Apr 14, 2010
3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2009 in Saint Louis, MO (took 2 days)
Very slow interview process, with weeks going by between the initial phone interview and the 1:1's. Met with three people, all who asked expected questions about my past experience. Found out four weeks after the interview that they had gone with an internal person for the role.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Entry Level Java Developer at Monsanto Company
Posted Apr 2, 2010 — 0 of 2 people found this helpful
2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2010 in Saint Louis, MO (took a day)
i have applied for this job 2 months back and one day recruiter e-mailed, she wants to talk about position applied. Just genral q's like Why this company? and what do know about this company?
and she particularly asks abt our skills.......
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Programmer Analyst at Monsanto Company
Posted Mar 9, 2010
4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2008 (took 4+ weeks)
Very good interrview process. Focus on people and your past results. Very friendly crowd
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Senior Java Developer at Monsanto Company
Posted Mar 4, 2010 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2009 in Saint Louis, MO (took a day)
Monsanto's interview process is very rigorous. You know to be well versed with Test first development, design patterns and refactoring. You will most likely get through the phone interview. Java positions are very competitive. There is a coding test that you need to pass to proceed.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?

