Salesforce.com Senior Sales Engineer Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jan 2010 in San Francisco, CA (took 4 weeks)

I was referred by a senior employee, which sped the process. He told a colleague, who would be my direct manager, about me, so the two of us had a 30-minute informal sit-down.
The next step was a more in-depth 1:1, where that manager and I spoke for a longer period about what, exactly, the job would entail.
After that, it was a 3.5-hour block, divided into five parts: 10-15 minutes with a recruiter, who asked about desired compensation, willingness to relocate (did she not see that I had a local address on my resume?), and company benefits. Then 4 45-minute interviews were planned. But the most senior person was in a meeting with a customer, so we were more flexible and I ended up meeting with two of the people at the same time.
Observations: Relaxed dress code unless meeting with customers. Cubes with low dividers are the norm - I'd say that when I sat up straight in the cube I chatted in during the in-depth 1:1, it came up to my chin or my nose. One of the two floors I saw had a Wii, ping-pong table, video game machine with a ton of games, ice hockey game with those levers, fooz ball, and more. Kitchens well-stocked with snacks, sodas, bottled water, and everything I could want. It came VERY close to the kitchens I saw at Facebook.

Sadly, there's a joke at salesforce.com that every employee had at least one snag or snafu in the recruiting process. Most of the people I have spoken to say that something went wrong with their first round of interviews and that they got the second job they applied for. Clearly, there is something messed up in the recruiting division.