SPARC Interview Questions

Call with HR, coding exercise. Coding exercise was timed, very academic, and very easy. However, it was the kind of thing a software student completes (hackerrank.com). The task was completely unrelated to any industry experience i have gained in 10+ years. HR immediately started wanting to discuss salary before even getting to the on-site portion of the interview. Continued to lowball me, despite advertising for a senior engineering role. I declined to continue with the interview process at that point. Extremely unprofessional experience. Waste of time.

I was contacted by recruiter who saw my resume online, and they setup a normal phone screening. After the screening, they setup a virtual interview. Virtual interview was an easy conversation about fairly topical and general things. After following up with the recruiter, they said they had moved forward with other candidates and had no feedback.

Referred by employee -> HR phone interview -> programming problem -> video interview with two engineers -> in person on one day: two young engineers(1 hour), CTO (30 minutes), two older engineers(1 hour) -> wait -> phone call with offer & I negotiated salary -> next day they called with the negotiated offer and I accepted

First was the phone interview with HR. They were extensive in their recruiting and screening. Then there was an in-person programming test, where I had to write some Java code. And then three rounds of technical panel interviews with too many questions to recall.

I was contacted by a recruiter in 2015 and set up an on site interview after an initial phone screen. The people were nice enough and the interview was mostly fine. I did get a hint of age discrimination from some of the people I met with or either it came across as a very cliquish attitude. Overall, the culture, atmosphere at Sparc seemed great. Once I found out my former employer, Booz Allen, was acquiring Sparc, I contacted the recruiter and let her know I was no longer interested. I found this out not long after the on site interview and before I received any feedback from the visit. As a previous BAH employee in GA, I can tell you, BAH was the most miserable employment experience I've ever had. I quit after being there a year. Once the "leadership" (I use this term loosely), or call them old dinosaurs, at BAH gets its claws into Sparc, you can kiss the current culture goodbye. The leadership mentality at BAH is still stuck in the 1960s. Based on my experience with BAH; probably gone from Sparc will be... *Unlimited PTO/VAC time - when I was at BAH, accruing time off was difficult, but hey, they'll let you go "in the hole" and owe the company. *All the toys, games, alcohol, open work spaces, etc will be gone. BAH dinosaurs love cubicles. *Kiss the casual dress code goodbye. BAH is ran by dress code control freaks. (Think of the tv show Madmen). Women - highly encouraged to wear dresses, high heels, but can wear business pant suits, business skirts w blazers. Men - all men must wear button up long sleeve dress shirts, dress shoes, dress pants. Ties are highly encouraged. Jeans or shorts? Forget it! Anything comfortable to wear will be gone. *Bring dogs to work benefit, gone. *Anything that remotely gives the impression of a flexible, creative or fun work environment will be gone. Maybe the culture at BAH has changed since I was there, but I doubt it. The BAH culture isn't going to change until the old dinosaurs and their mindset become extinct.

Met with my team leader of the finance/accounting department. Asked me just a few short basic interview questions, went over my resume while asking a few simple questions. Hired me on the spot (although this was only for a temporary position that last less than a month).

First contact was from a recruiter via LinkedIn. Given that I wasn't actively seeking a new position, I disclosed my current salary and made sure SPARC would be competitive before proceeding. Next up was a HackerRank programming problem, then a video interview, and then lastly an in-person interview. The programming problem seemed fairly straightforward for a senior-level developer. The video and in-person interviews were more technical conversations than technical questioning. Almost everyone I met with seemed cordial and knowledgable. The position involved Java development and technical leadership for a government contract. A few days after my in-person interview, I was made an offer for a remote position, but I declined as the salary was a notable amount less than what I was currently making. Given that we had covered salary expectations up front, I declined and withdrew from consideration at that point. I was also surprised that no one ever mentioned any reimbursement for the 300+ mile round trip they asked me to make to their office or considered stopping for a lunch break during a series of interviews that lasted most of the day.

Arrived at the facility, found out that there was absolutely no parking, and had to park in the woods on a dirt road. People were nice when I entered the building, and the recruiting specialist and someone from HR came up to meet me and gave me a tour of the facility. Waited and sat and waited for interviewer to come into room. Interviewer proceeded to bring in a laptop and a cell phone (while carrying on an online conversation), and proceeded to ask me one or two questions. The total interview was about 15 or so minutes.

1 phone interview, 1 skype then came in for a long 2 hour interview. It was very tough but gave me a great idea on how the company works.

A SPARC Recruiter contacted me via LinkedIn. We had a good chat after agreeing to speak. They set up a code challenge sort of thing, which I did. The challenge was very problematic. Nothing worked right in getting the code and instructions to me, or in submitting it. The recruiter did not attempt to contact me after that. I contacted her, and she still wanted me to come out for an interview. Or at least that's what she said. Never heard from her again. I didn't want to waste my time speaking or dealing with SAPRC again in any way. The entire company comes off as very "too cool for school" and from the people I know who have worked there in the past, they're anything but. The recruiters were very unprofessional. Maybe Booz Allen Hamilton will turn things around?