I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at AstraZeneca (Cambridge, England) in Sep 2020
Interview
First step was a coding task that I had to complete in 24 hours. Had to wait a month before an interview with the hiring manager.
Upon the start of the interview, the manager said that this interview, the FIRST interview, is going to be the final interview and they shall send decisions after that. I found that very weird as I was expecting a simple screening call because it was scheduled to be only 30 minutes. Since it was a brand new team, I assumed the manager wanted to speed things up so fine whatever. But in those 30 minutes, the manager actually spent only 15 minutes asking me questions, followed by 10 minutes of my questions.
This whole experience felt very shady, like the manager had already decided to reject me much before my interview. But then why have an interview in the first place? OTOH, if the manager did think I'd be a good candidate, then why assess someone in a final interview of only 15 minutes?
Definitely one of the strangest interviews I've ever had. I received a rejection a few weeks later which wasn't a surprise.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is the most complicated ML model you've created?
First-round CV screening. After that a coding challenge, a small machine learning project to be completed in 24 hours. They did not select me. It seems they are looking for some engineering, who document their code instead of a scientist. I don't mean scientists should not document code, but it should not be the only criteria. Besides, good code speaks it self, minimum documentation needed.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A coding challenge of a small ml problem in biology.