Netflix Interview Questions & Reviews in San Jose, CA Area

Interview Details – The interview process was straight forward. I had 3 phone screens, first one was more towards Java and I did not have much experience with Java so did not work out well but I think the interviewer understood that and so came the second interview, who was a engineering manager (hiring manager). Asked some basic questions about my back ground and then there was a higher level testing question. Given a API with minimal documentation and something which is in production for a year, how will you go about testing it.
3rd phone screen was more about resume cross check, spot checking on some of the technologies that I mentioned in my resume.

Flew me down to los gatos (good accomodation), I was provided with the schedule of interview ahead of time, which i liked as it showed that there is thought given to interview process.

There were 7 interviews in 2 sections, if you pass the first technical section of 4 interviews then it moves on to next step of 3 interviews mostly with VP and director level people.

Technical interview
Simple algorithm questions for coding.
then some abstract high level testing question

More emphasis on, whether you will fit the culture which seems to be open in terms of upper management having direct communication with engineers about the directiion the company is taking and why.

It seemed like they are more Hire/Fire kind of culture but talking to the interviewers, it did not seem like there is pressure on them.

Reason for Declining – The offer was good (you can negotiate a lot), but did not work out for me in terms of all the relocation in terms of cost that I would have to do.

Interview Details – Got the interview via a LinkedIn connection. I had a phone interview with the recruiter, director, and peer manager. Most of the question evolved around my resume,and the level of the types of questions I would say was "average". I probably did not get to the next round due to lack of experience of one or two of their requirements.

Interview Details – Applied on the website. A recruiter called. First telephonic with the hiring manager. Simple linked list/tree coding question with screen shared. Another telephonic interview where the Architect dug deep. Asked concepts on Java, Multithreading, Design Patterns etc. If you do your homework, they should be ok to crack.

Reason for Declining – Overall, the negative feedback on glassdoor made it easy for me to ignore this offer. Even though they pay pretty neat, but I felt I can be happy at other place.

Interview Details – My interview experience with Netflix was a strange experience. My initial communication with the Netflix recruiter was great, she was very nice and efficient setting up a phone conversation with the hiring manager, everything was scheduled down to the minute.

After the phone conversation I was invited to fly down to Los Gatos to meet with the hiring manager in person along with several peers of this position I was interviewing for. I did a lot of research on Glassdoor.com and spoke to several people about what Netflix's culture. I was very concerned about it what I read and heard from the people I spoke with.

The accommodations that Netflix put me in was a very nice 4 star hotel, the Hotel Los Gatos is a place I would stay at again. They coordinated the flight and provided reimbursement for everything (taxi rides, food etc)

everything was scheduled with the interview panel and clearly communicated to me in writing well before the interviews began. Everyone that I met with was nice and professional with the exception of the Director of Talent Acquisition she was very condescending. She asked me questions about Netflix's competition, of course I answered with Google, Amazon, Apple etc. She then proceeded to tell my why I was wrong and was not very nice about it.

The rest of the interview went on much like any other interview I have been through, the one thing that stood out for me was that everyone was very up front about the culture. If you do not have what it takes you will not last very long at Netflix they make no bones about it. Many questions focused on my experience with firing non-performers and how well I could recruit new talent. It sounds very much like a meat grinder working environment that I wanted no part of.

Leaving the interview I had no intention of accepting any offer that was made no matter how well it paid. I could tell that it would take a certain kind of soulless robot to work at Netflix. They were more concerned with my philosophy on canning people than on global payment technology.

Interview Details – After the initial discussion I had an interview over the phone. The engineer over the phone asked questions about my resume and a few design questions. I was informed after 2 days that they want me to come for an in-person interview.

I was surprised to see how many people were there for interview at the same time I was invited. It was a mini job fair :). I had inteview with directors, engineers and HR. I must confess I was not grilled either by HR or engineers. They asked things about my resume, what is the toughest project you have worked on, how I feel about their culture etc. I was only posed only one technical problem.

I was informed later that it didn't work out for me. The group I was interviewing with handled all the communication very nicely. My only regret is that they rejected me without testing my technical skills.

Interview Details – I applied online and got a phone call from a recruiter two days later. I was scheduled for an hour interview with the same HR person a few days later. The interview went very well. The interesting thing was that the recruiter seemed to know a lot about the business and asked me some tough questions which made the process interesting. I got a call back the same day and had another interviewed scheduled with the hiring manager for a few days later. That interview was pretty simple with basic skills discussion and a brief overview of the job/company. The hiring manager said immediately after the interview that I would be called in for an inperson interview. I was scheduled for an all day interview for the next week. The whole in person experience was a bit odd from the minute I arrived at the location in Los Gatos. It was 8am and felt like 4pm on a Sunday - no one to be found around. The whole place felt deserted. There was only one receptionist in the whole building. I was escorted to the room I was supposed to interview in by the hiring manager who was first in line to interview me. I got to ask many questions during that interview which I appreciated. The next interview was with a potential colleague in the same team. She asked a few case questitons. She did not feel very happy with her position or the manager when I asked her a few questions about how she felt working there. The third interview was a full hour of consulting style case study. The three interviews after that was easy and involved general business questions (two of these were with HR). My last interview for the day was with a C level exec and was brutal. Pretty intimidating but apprently I did well as I got offered the job five days after the in person interviews. They do referral checks and do actually call your references. Make sure to have your references prepare a list of strengths and weaknesses. After the reference checks were completed the recruiter called me for another meeting which I thought was the second round of in person interviews. It was not an interview day though. They made the offer to me in person in the Los Gatos office.

Reason for Declining – At the end I got an amazing offer. 30% increase in total compensation from where I am right now. Sounds amazing, right? I declided the offer. I loved the offer and the job but I declined the offer becuase of the company and its ruthless culture. Not only did I decide that I am not a fit to the culture but I do not approve of such a culture. I am a very hard worker and I am very smart. I don't mind working long hours. But I could not work at a company that treated its employees as disposable "robots". I want to earn more but I also want to have a life. I did not want to risk my financial future (it seemed like getting let go is very easy and is in the hands of your manager and whether he/she likes you), I did not want to work long hours and still think my job was at risk, I simply did not want to take an unjustified risk (that felt way above average compared to other growth companies) for a little more earnings. Based on my research in glassdoor, talking to current and previous employees, reading the culture deck and interviewing there it just did not sound like a place I wanted to work for. A few key words I kept hearing were: culture of fear, revolving door, letting go, firing, work hard with no recognition, no job security, performance reviews very subjective, etc. It all came down to this: as a person you are looking for security in all aspect of your life. You want security in your country, home and relationships. Well, you also need it in your job. I don't care how much they pay or what growth story they have I declined to work at a place that offered less than average security compared to its peers. My advice is make sure you do your homework and know the risk you are taking when interviewing for this company. Until they make big changes to their HR policies and treat employees like humans (rumors do not come out for no reason at all) they will start losing interest in the eyes of the "smart" people they go after. No amount of monetary "carrot" will be enough to lure these guys in at some point. Glassdoor and people who submit reviews here were amazing help in my decision. Read every single review to make sure you are getting an accurate picture. It has been a few months since my decline and right now I know I made the right decision every day I go home and have time to play with my daughter with no job security thoughts in my mind. I am happy...

Interview Details – I had an initial phone interview which consisted of several questions on Java and Perl.

I then had an onsite interview and since i was an out-of-area candidate, i was given excellent accomodation for staying.

Onsite interviews included face to face interview with the tech lead, manager, VP etc

Most of the interviews were based on big scale data questions.

Interview Details – The recruiting staff was very professional and they moved quickly through the interview process. Phone screens were through and professional. I was flown in for an on site interview and they took care of all travel arrangements and accommodations.

I interviewed with six people on site. Everyone was prompt, professional, and friendly. I could tell that everyone enjoyed working there and was excited about their jobs.

Interview Details – I was recommend to Netflix via an employee referral. It took about 45 days to get a response, but when it did a recruiter set up a phone interview with the hiring manager and after about 30 minutes on the phone she stated she wanted to bring me out to CA for a face to face interview. A few days later the head recruiter called and I should have known something was wrong based on his condescending tone. I still decided hey a free trip to CA I'll take the interview. They flew me out the following week and I started a miserable day of interviews. They locked me away in a conference room where a parade of interviewer came in and out every 45 minutes and grilled me on SQL and stats principles until I was pretty much brain dead. After 5 interviews the 6th was with head recruiter and he was such a jerk I almost walked out. He insulted my intelligence (do you think a girl from Ohio is smart enough to work at Netflix) to my work ethic (well at has to be very easy job that you have at XXXXX which was the competitor not the company I work at). I am not sure if he was doing it on purpose or if the abrasive demeanor was his actual personality, but I have to admit when he came back 5 minutes after my interview with him and said the rest were canceled and I could go I felt relief.

After reading the slide deck about how Netflix only hires highly qualified employees and pays them well and lets go everyone else go I wonder if anyone feels safe in their role besides the CEO.