I applied by sending a tailored CV and statement to the company through their website, addressing all of the points they highlighted in the job description. I heard back within about 3 days to arrange an interview. I asked what would be expected and was told that I would be asked a series of technical questions, as well as be given an opportunity to demonstrate some of my work.
There were 3 weeks between the initial email inviting me and the actual interview.
When I arrived, I was greeted by a very welcoming American man who happened to be near the entrance. I introduced myself and explained that I was here for an interview. The woman who organised the interview shortly came to meet me and showed me to a conference room, offering me tea or coffee while I waited. (I was about 20 minutes early) It seemed like a very welcoming environment, with big bright windows, nice chairs, and and calm professional atmosphere.
Soon, two men from the Senior Software Engineering team came to meet me. One was a younger man, who had also previously been placed on an internship. The other seemed to be more established in his role within the company, and lead majority of the questions. Both of them seemed friendly and professional.
The first question they asked me was how I had heard about them.
Then, they asked me about my experience as I had highlighted on my CV/cover letter, in a manner where you would have to give examples of how you learned. For example, they asked me what I learned about memory management through my university coursework, what I know about AI/Tensorflow, why I'm interested in applying for the position with Codeplay, if I had applied to any other internships, if there are any online platform that I contribute to/ use for up to date information. (Stackoverflow, Hackerrank etc), how long it took me to build my projects, what my preferred language is and why, what challenges I have come across when programming, what I learned about processor architecture at uni, etc. They asked me how I had learned so many languages in one year. (I had about 6 languages on my CV, 4 of which were taught during my first year at Uni and the others which I learned as a part of a hackers society / CTF competitions.) They also asked what kind of courses would be available for me to take during my next year, as I had expressed interest in keeping an internship while I continued my studies.
After the initial questions, which went pretty well, I had the opportunity to show the two interviewers my projects from my laptop on a projector. Mine were courseworks from university in C/C++. They mostly asked me questions about how I could improve my code, as well as questions like whether the project was my own idea or a university project, how the university ensures that the work is my own, and what would happen if a certain line of code were different. They gave some criticisms and suggestions as well.
The last part of the interview involved them asking me a series of optimisation questions, which they say is similar to the kind of work they would do on a typical day. (See below)
Finally, they gave some time for me to ask them questions. At this point, I was pretty certain that I wasn't experienced enough to really be doing this job - so I asked less questions than I had prepared. I asked them what they like about their jobs, what a typical day was like at the office, when I should expect to hear back from them, and I asked them if they were willing to provide any initial feeback - which they did in a constructive manner.
They both walked me out after the interview and asked me some casual question about how many people were on my course / when my summer started. I obviously didn't meet their expectations during the interview, but they were still friendly and kind regardless of having spent nearly 2 hours interviewing me.
I was interviewed on a Friday and received feedback and their decision on Monday. As expected, they wrote to say that they wouldn't be proceeding to the next stage and suggested that I gain more experience in TensorFlow/Eigen. They said that I would be welcomed to apply again in the future.
My impression is that I simply didn't have the skills they were looking for after one year of study, and I wouldn't recommend applying unless you have either 3 years of academic experience or much more non-academic experience than I had! It seems like a really interesting job though and a good place to work, from what I could gather. I'll likely apply again.
