I applied online. I interviewed at Second Measure (New York, NY) in Apr 2020
Interview
My interview with Second Measure was one of the most transparent interviews that I've had! While a very thorough process, everyone I met was very nice and serious about culture. I had my interview, remotely, during COVID.
1. Initial writing sample
This was a quick email writing sample.
2. Phone call with hiring manager
Basic initial phone screen to discuss your background & talk through a SQL query
3. Technical Interview (~3 people)
This part was a bit challenging, as it is a mix of a business cases and coding challenges.
4. Take home project & Presentation
Very straight forward! You are given a dataset and expected to present to the hiring manager and others.
5. Behavioral Interview (~5 people)
This was my favorite part as I got to meet more people from the company and better understand the culture.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What are some things you are curious to look into once you have access to our data?
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Second Measure (San Mateo, CA) in Sept 2019
Interview
Found out via Hackernews, sent an email with resume.
Thoughts:
Throughout the entire process, I felt that Second Measure was extremely respectful of my time. I always got updates within 24 hours, and often received them much quicker. During each round there is a large portion of the interview set aside for questions.
The people I interviewed with were extremely kind and genuinely curious to learn about my background. The questions (especially technical ones) are designed to gauge your understanding without any tricks or gimmicks.
Process:
1. Quick email exercise, nothing major, just to prove that you can write effective client-facing emails.
2. Screening call (30 minutes) with data science manager. Standard screener call where you talk about yourself, your background, and your current responsibilities (especially client facing ones). Others have mentioned that this call may have sounded scripted, but this is probably a combination of Second Measure wanting to maintain a consistent candidate experience, and just how the manager inflects their voice.
3. Product demo, technical rounds (2 hours). In-person if you're local, remote if you're not. Starts with a call with someone on the sales/account management side about how you interact with clients, and then a product demo. Then there were 2 technical rounds (45 minutes) which focused on technical skills like SQL (e.g. how would you query this dataset).
4. Homework/presentation (Second Measure estimates 4 hours). Shortly after the technical rounds, I received the homework project. It can seem daunting if you don't come from a traditional STEM background, but the project is straight forward, with no gimmicks. After your presentation you are asked some questions which gauge your understanding of your findings and how you would do follow-on analysis.
5. Final interview (3 rounds + lunch). Standard behavioral interview. Team is interviewing to see how you think, your experience, and what your goals are.
I applied online. The process took 6 days. I interviewed at Second Measure (San Francisco, CA) in Sept 2019
Interview
An email first requesting a 15 mins writing sample, followed by an introductory phone call with an HR person, and then a longer 30-40 mins call with the hiring manager. The phone interviewer was very mechanical, almost sounded like a recorded message, read one question twice. In fact, I thought he had dropped off after I answered a long question and he didn't say anything. Then at the end he ended the interview abruptly stating that someone was in the office.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked me very detailed questions on SQL queries which I wasn't expecting.