I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Thumbtack in Mar 2015
Interview
Had a phone screen with a recruiter, followed by a coding challenge (data analysis on a small, artificial dataset), followed by an interview with a current data scientist. The first step went well, it was a pretty typical discussion with a technical recruiter. The coding challenge was not very difficult, and according to feedback from the recruiter the team was in general happy with my report. The interview with the data scientist was not quite what I expected. There were a lot of technical questions asked, which is not surprising, but the way they were asked was if the person had a "checklist" of things they were looking for, rather than trying to find out more about my background/experience and see if I'd be a person who could succeed with some learning curve for the position. I think they are definitely looking for someone with a specific type of work experience, and at this point aren't willing to hire someone with a different background who could learn the role. A lot of questions about A/B testing, so I think that would be the main function for the role.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Basically walk through how you would perform A/B testing from start to finish, being very specific about the steps you'd take.
Recruiter introduced the team and the company, as well as the hiring process. He did not ask me to go through my resume or have any background questions for me.
Phone Interview: it began from hiring manager introducing herself, then walking through my experience, and ending with me asking questions. The whole process is respectful and full of questions. However, in the process I realized the team's focus was on pricing, an area that isn't my strength.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asking about work experience in my current company, previous company, what do I know about Thumbtack.
Straightforward. Started with a recruiter screen, takehome, and a subsequent panel with the hiring manager.
Did the takehome and got rejected. Asked for feedback and received no response. Poor experience overall. Very disappointing.
