I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Okta (Tokyo) in Feb 2024
Interview
There were total of 4 steps in the interview process.
- HR Screening 30 mins
- SE Director 30 mins
- SE Manager 30 mins
- Product Demo & Presentation 1 hr
A pdf guidance was given for the demo which I made sure to follow strictly. The feedback was that my demo did not focus on features and functions, which in today's world is essentially a taboo to be going the way of product-selling route.
This sort of feedback convinced me to have not met their expectations and that it is a good thing I did not. They need to up their game and shift more towards solition-selling motion if scaling their business is a thing for them.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
An example of working cross-functionally to close a large deal.
What makes a good SE?
Any experience with authentication framework? (ex. SAML, OAuth, etc.)
3 to 4 rounds includes tech challenge and manager round as well and basics of domain knowledge and the tool knowledge and the sales skills you have to showcase it on the demo with the panelist
Had plenty of calls with HR, Hiring Manager and other colleagues.
After the first call with Hiring Manager I got lots of informations about his job, but he didn’t ask me, what I‘m doing right now.
The other calls were quite interesting and I got many tips and tricks for my SE presentation.
The feedback for my presentation was, they didn’t feel it.
I really just tried to use all tips and tricks, but it was not „natural“, the Hiring Manager told me.
Okta is a really interesting product and has lots of room to expand.
Unfortunately I wasn’t the right SE for them.
I wish they would have said it early and not wasted three month of my time.
Interview questions [4]
Question 1
What ports need to be open on your firewall to use Okta?