Rackspace Interview Questions & Reviews
Overview |
| |
Salaries |
| |
Reviews |
| |
Interviews |
| |
Photos |
| |
Jobs |
| |
|
Updated May 28, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
|
Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 72 ratings 
“Difficult” Interview
|
Interview Experience [?] Based on 72 ratings
|
Rackspace has 2,750 connections on Glassdoor
See Who You Know
| 41–50 of 72 Rackspace Interviews | Sort by |
Network Security Administrative I at Rackspace
Posted Mar 21, 2011 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
|
5.0
Very Difficult Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Mar 2011 in San Antonio, TX (took 3 weeks)
Went through a basic Q&A with a recruiter asking me technical questions that she was reading off of a sheet. Did well enough that she passed me off to one of th advanced techs. He gave me a 2 hour lab to complete with about 10 scenarios I had to complete on a virtual lab setup I had to SSH into. Examples would be, change the default password on the Cisco ASA firewall. Went up in difficulty from there covering ACL's and site to site VPN connections. I'd say I got about a 60% there but well enough. Was surprised to hear them ask me to come visit, so they flew me out to HQ in San Antonio (expenses covered by them) to do an in face interview. Once I got there, it was a panel interview with about 5 others who would all ask me random questions and go back and forth from "Tell me something about yourself?" to "How many hosts in a /24 subnet?". I didn't think I did that well, and it was extremely stressful. I felt very demoralized about the whole process but I got an offer the next day. I think they are trying to see how you do under pressure. Culture was very relaxed, shorts T-Shirt for everyone. Overall I'd say people were pretty nice.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
They knew my salary from my previous job and matched it. I asked what the pay band was and I was already above it so I didn't push it. They did offer a very sizable some for relocation which made it a done deal.
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, an IQ/Intelligence Test, a Skills Test and a Personality Test.
More Rackspace Network Security Administrative I Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
View Comments (2)
Inappropriate?
Marketing Analyst I at Rackspace
Posted Dec 21, 2010
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Dec 2010 in San Antonio, TX (took 2 weeks)
I found the posting through campus resources at my university and applied for the position. A couple weeks later a recruiter called me to schedule an interview in town with the manager of the position.
This first interview lasted about an hour and was very casual and relaxed. It pretty much consisted of general questions, "Why Rackspace?" and "What kind of learner and worker are you?" The manager then explained the position and some of the expectations they had for people they hire. I then had the opportunity to ask questions and did so. The manager told me that I would be getting a call back regarding a second, longer interview to take place the next week.
I heard back from the recruiter and scheduled an interview for the afternoon and lasted about 3.5 hours. This interview started off with the manager again asking if I had any new thoughts or questions about the job, and explained that the rest of the interview will consist of some other members of the marketing department and in other departments asking questions. The individuals who interviewed me were all very polite and asked general questions to get a sense of who I was and what I am looking for in a job. One of them was a phone interview with a manager in Austin which went very well. Overall, the interview process was very comfortable and I knew this is where I wanted to be by the end of the day.
I got a call the next day with a job offer and happily accepted.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
I didn't negotiate. I was quoted above what I expected to make in the first place and had no problem with that salary. I encourage everyone who is looking to interview with Rackspace to simply be themselves and focus on a willingness to provide fanatical support and meet expectations. The best candidates to work in this company are those that really want to be there, not those simply looking for money.
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Product Manager I at Rackspace
Posted Nov 17, 2010
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Negative Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Nov 2009 in San Antonio, TX (took 2 days)
Went through initial phone screen, which was just pretty much basic questions about previous job experience. Next up was the face to face interviews which pretty much took 6 hours out of my work day. I met with at least 12 people and by the time it was over I was so exhausted and hoarse that I didnt really care whether or not I got the job. Having that many people interview you tells me 2 things: they dont trust upper management or HR to bring in the right people, or they want their current employees to believe they are actually part of the hiring process.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Personality Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Network Security Administrative II at Rackspace
Posted Oct 23, 2010
|
4.0
Difficult Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Oct 2010 (took 2 weeks)
I had a interview waiting for next steps
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation, an IQ/Intelligence Test, a Skills Test, a Personality Test, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Windows Systems Administrator II at Rackspace
Posted Oct 8, 2010
|
5.0
Very Difficult Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Aug 2010 in San Antonio, TX (took 5+ weeks)
I had been looking for jobs in San Antonio, as I had already decided that was where I wanted to move to, however I had not yet applied to Rackspace when I was contacted by a recruiter via phone and email. My preliminary phone screen occurred the same day they contacted me later that afternoon. Within one week, I had taken a Skills Test on their HR Portal, and had been contacted for a second phone screen to judge my personality and find out some background information.
I did one phone interview with my current manager and two senior technicians from my team, and that was followed by an on-site interview which I flew out for. The on-site section was actually 2 interview segments, a 1 on 1 with my current manager, and a group interview with the majority of the team members including all the senior technicians from my team. Combined, the on-site interview lasted for 4 hours, and the panel section included 8 people asking me questions.
I found that I fit in very well with the team, we had many common interests, and I felt like these were people I could be friends with, not just co-workers. After the panel interview, I was shown around the office and introduced to everybody, and I feel like everyone was very welcoming. The office was your standard fare for cube farms, but that wasn't really disconcerting.
The best piece of advice I can offer for anybody else interviewing here is that you read up on the company ahead of time, spend some time on the Racker Talent blog, and make sure you fit with the core values of the company. If you're technically proficient, and you are a good fit for the team, you are probably going to be hired. From what I was told during orientation is that most people are rejected due to their fit within the team, not necessarily due to their technical skills. Teamwork and camaraderie are very important in the company culture at Rackspace, and it shows very positively in how you are treated as an employee.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
I found the negotiations very comfortable. They laid out ahead of time what their standard salary band was for the title which I was being hired into, and I took a $1k/yr salary cut to get the cash I needed up front as a bonus for my relocation, which was a sizable sum for my previous situation. The best advice I can give others in the same position would be to simply ask the HR person you're working with for what you want, and be honest about what is most important to you.
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Skills Test, a Personality Test and a Background Check.
More Rackspace Windows Systems Administrator II Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Intensive Linux Administrator at Rackspace
Posted Sep 14, 2010
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Sep 2010 in London, England (United Kingdom) (took 4+ weeks)
I was found by an external recruiter. After talking to him, I was interviewed by phone by someone in rackspace's recruitment team, discussing general issues about the job itself and my current status.
Afterwards, I was set up to do a technical phone skill test and I was asked about 50 technical questions about Linux, networks and RHEL.
Then I was invited to join rackspace's recruitment day, where I would be evaluated along with other candidates.
The day was divided to several sessions.
At first we were asked to introduce ourselves, then we were instructed to discuss among ourselves whether Linux is better than windows and in what way. That was actually a personality test, aiming in showing how each candidate argues his point of view.
Then we were tasked to solve a problem. We were supposed to be stranded on a cold mountain top after a plane crash, and all we had were 10 objects. How would be prioritized the objects in 10 minutes? This would be a decision where all of the candidates should agree to, so this was a teamwork test.
Finally, there was a 20 minutes personal interview, a 30 minutes lab-based skill test and a written technical test.
There was also a small essay test, where we would need to write down possible answers to clients for specific problems initiated by ourselves or rackspace itself. That would test the ability to accurately and truthful explain some technical situations.
All in all, the interview experience was wonderful. Everyone seemed like striving to make us feel comfortable. The whole environment seemed very relaxed and playful. We were offered coffee, food and a tour around the premises.
Definitely the best interview process I've been so far.
Interview Questions
You still have client B on the phone. What do you do?
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Skills Test and a Personality Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Linux Systems Administrator II at Rackspace
Posted Sep 7, 2010 — 2 of 2 people found this helpful
|
4.0
Difficult Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Jan 2010 in San Antonio, TX (took 2 weeks)
I was contacted by phone by the HR recruiter to begin the process. I went through an initial phone screen consisting of about 20-30 very, very easy technical questions, though it was quite obvious the recruiter was simply reading a sheet and looking for the written down answer. After this, a more in depth technical phone screen with a lead tech was scheduled. This call took about 30 minutes and covered more in depth but still easy questions.
From here, as I was located on the other side of the country, we set up an interview time over Skype. I was on time and ready to go only to never hear anything. After several calls to my recruiter, I finally got a call a few hours later saying that she had totally forgotten about the interview. Great. It was rescheduled for the next day.
This interview consisted of the lead tech who had screened me earlier plus another senior technician. The majority of the questions were technical in nature and many were quite difficult. As far as I can tell, this is just to gauge exactly where you're at technically. After about an hour to an hour and a half of this, the first two interviewers left and I had two new guys: a different senior technician and the senior manager for the department I was interviewing for. This interview didn't have as many technical questions, but there were still quite a few. Many of these focused more on personality questions.
They seemed impressed and told me that they'd be in touch. A few days later, I was again contacted by the recruiter. She set up another Skype interview with another team that wanted to speak with me. When that day came around, I found myself in front of two senior technicians and a team lead. The majority of the interview came from further technical scenario based questions from the two techs as well as a good chunk of personality/scenario (If you had a problem with a teammate, how would you handle it?) questions from the team lead.
The next day, I got a call from the recruiter offering me the position. All in all, it was exactly 14 days from first contact to offer in hand. Including phone screens and Skype interviews, I think I topped 8 hours total time spent. They definitely try very hard to make sure candidates are a good fit.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Background Check.
More Rackspace Linux Systems Administrator II Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Security Network Administrator at Rackspace
Posted Sep 3, 2010
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Aug 2010 in Austin, TX (took 1 week)
I applied online and HR called me back to set an appointment for a phone interview with another HR recruiter, they were very punctual with their phone call, they asked some usual questions about what my responsibilities were in my previous job, if I knew anything about the company, why was I looking for another job, and the second part was technical questions. Such as How do you connect remotely to a Linux server, What's the difference between Telnet and SSH, What are the advantages or what is VPN, what is IPsec? Why is a stateful firewall better? For IPsec what would I choose ESP or AH and why?
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Developer III at Rackspace
Posted Aug 22, 2010 — 0 of 1 people found this helpful
|
2.0
Easy Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Received and Declined Offer
|
Interviewed May 2009 (took 2 weeks)
Basic questions in phone interview. After that there were interviews with 2-3 developers. No hard questions, mostly behavioral ones. Technical questions were alarmingly trivia based (what does X mean in c#) which seems to imply they are looking for knowledge rather than ability to learn. Developers seemed friendly enough. Was given another test to do over a 48hr period.
String focus on OOP and design and nearly none on algorithms.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
Interview wasn't hard enough
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Windows Systems Administrator I at Rackspace
Posted Aug 19, 2010
|
4.0
Difficult Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Jun 2010 in London, England (United Kingdom) (took a day)
Overall the interviewer started with general questions such as salary, why Rackspace, previous work and moved onto a 50 question technical interview which lasted about 50 minutes on the phone. The interviewer was not a tech person and all my answers were matched to a list of answers that the interviewer had.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
RSS Feed for Rackspace
Interviews
Embed
