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Synapse Product Development Interview Questions & Reviews

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Web: www.synapse.com | HQ: Seattle, WA

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Updated Jan 19, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.

Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 7 ratings

3.4

“Difficult” Interview

Interview Experience [?] Based on 7 ratings

Positive	43%
Neutral	14%
Negative	43%

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1–7 of 7 Synapse Product Development Interviews

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3.0

Average Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Received and Accepted Offer

Interviewed Nov 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 3 weeks)

Extensive but diligent selection process involving several in-person visits to meet with a cross section of disciplines, including HR staff, the hiring manager, senior management, people currently in the position I was interviewing for, and other key internal partners. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many members of the team and each of the conversations we had. Communication and follow up throughout the process were excellent.

Interview Questions

Most interviews were more of a conversation than a traditional interview or behavioral Q&A. More like, "Let's put a 'live' problem on the table and whiteboard some ideas for how you might approach it."

View Answers (1)

Other Details

I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Received and Accepted Offer

Interviewed Feb 2011 (took 8 months)

Mine was exceptional for multiple reasons. First, they wound up halting hiring for a couple months, then I also wanted to be interviewed for EE, then we ran into some insurance issues to negotiate, and then I wanted to finish the project with my current employer before leaving. But the normal process required a lot of visits anyways.

Interview Questions

Software had garden-variety coding problems. EE had a wide range of questions/problems, testing all fields.

Answer Question

Negotiation Details

I wasn't after much, but I did negotiate matching coverage for my special needs child and a somewhat distant start date in order not to leave my previous employer in a bad bind.

Other Details

I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Skills Test.

More Synapse Product Development Software Engineer Interviews

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Negative Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Sep 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 5 months)

This interview was a joke, and I don't know why it happened. I applied for the job back in May, and they sent me a request for an interview in September. Then the interviewer didn't know what job I was interviewing for. I hope the co. isn't as bad.

Interview Questions

What job are you interviewing for? (asked toward the end of the interview)

View Answers (1)

Other Details

I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Received and Accepted Offer

Interviewed Nov 2010 in Seattle, WA (took 2 weeks)

Synapse was quick to respond to my application and scheduled an interview a few days later. The first one-on-one interview encompassed a discussion about company direction, business needs, and opportunities for communications solutions. The group interview focused on what-if scenarios and culture-fit with representatives from each department including the CEO.

Interview Questions

In what ways, budget aside, would you establish a brand strategy and communications plan for Synapse?

Answer Question

If you could have any super powers, what would they be?

Answer Question

Other Details

I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

2.0

Easy Interview

Overall Negative Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Mar 2011 (took a day)

The interviewer only asked some stuff in my resume and let me write the atoi function online. I did well but was rejected. The reason is my qualifications are not a fit for their current needs.

Interview Questions

Implement atoi function.

Answer Question

Other Details

I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed May 2010 in Seattle, WA (took 2 days)

Initial pre-screen was on the phone, where the emailed me a circuit schematic and asked me to analyze it. This seemed like a simple and effective way to test that the person interviewing knew what they were doing. At the same time, it was easy if the example was in the area you dealt with all day, but would have been difficult if you were spending your days designing PC's and they were asking about LED's. The circuit was based around something the founder has a bunch of patents in, so it was something they cared about, but this is a company that prides themselves on doing a huge range of things.

The in-person interview didn't go as well. They were not ready for me at all, I waited, and then the guy I talked to on the phone was busy and walked in much later. They went straight to targeted, hard, technical questions. Seemed to care very little about experience, what your current job was, or what expertise you had. They had a set of specific circuits they wanted you to draw off the top of your head. These again are easy if you either remember them from college or work on them every day, but require some real struggling to re-derive on the spot if you need to. I didn't remember these as well, and I knew that was the end of my chances there- it was pretty clear their interview process was like a final exam, with defined questions with correct and incorrect answers. They weren't looking for thought processes. I actually am pretty sure that I got 80% of their questions right, but they needed 99%.

In the end I consider the interview process a failure since I basically do in my current job what these guys at least described they wanted in the description, and I am very good at what I do. It sounds very stuck up, but I have been a top engineer at many companies. So if they found me insufficient for the job based on the fact that I slipped up on an Op-Amp circuit I haven't seen in a decade, that's not really finding engineers that will succeed.

Plus, in a bad economy filled with lots of laid off people, the job was still open 9 months later.

Interview Questions

Design a circuit to indicate what direction a encoder on a rotating shaft is going without using a microcontroller.

Answer Question

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?

4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Negative Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Feb 2010 in Seattle, WA (took a day)

Initially they required a "code sample" to be emailed. This is always problematic and unrealistic since the requirements are never clear.

Then there was a phone interview. Incredibly, the interviewer didn't even ask me one word about my experience or offer to tell me one word about the position. After an initial very brief greeting he insisted on going right to a technical problem. He set up an online "chalkboard" and asked me to code as he watched every character I typed and we talked on the phone. It was about a 50-line function. I had one or two very minor errors ( "=" instead of "+=" ) primarily the result of the fact that I don't normally code in this kind of environment. The interviewer wrapped up the conversation rather abruptly and essentially informed me that he wasn't interested.

The whole exchange was very unrealistic and shallow - to say the least. Strong negative for this company.