I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Uber (San Francisco, CA) in May 2016
Interview
I was referred by a current employee. I had a brief phone conversation with a recruiter, who then sent me a research design problem to write up. The team reviewed it, and then scheduled me for a videoconference with one of the current scientists. She quizzed me on some statistical and research design topics in a friendly way and provided a lot of information about the position.
Finally there was a 4 hour on-site, where I met many people from the team, presented a brief teaching lecture, and did some live data analysis. They weren't shy about pushing my skills to the limit and asking forthright questions about my interests and goals. But they were also kind and hospitable, and worked hard to make it a good experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
In academia the goal is to be in charge of your own research program, but here we work with teams from around the world and help them find fast, rigorous answers to their questions. Is that attractive to you?
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Uber
Interview
The conversation with HR and hiring manager went very well. The next round was asking me to work on a case and sent back my code and PowerPoint to them within 48 hours. They sent me rejection letter a week later. I'm really frustrated with their feedback. They want to hire someone with some kind of skills. The case I worked on had nothing to do with those skills. Every candidate spends lots of time and makes every effort to prepare for job interviews. PLEASE respect other's time and effort.
The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Uber in Nov 2018
Interview
I had a call with a recruiter, followed by a technical coding interview, a technical research interview and a culture fit interview with current research scientists. All were over the phone/internet.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The coding interview was a straight forward question where brute force + dictionary was optimal. This was followed by some slightly harder follow-up questions on modified assumptions about the input data.
The research interview was a pretend first research meeting on a topic given by the interviewer. We brainstormed together and the interviewer probed (fairly lightly) my knowledge on the fields that we touched upon.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Uber
Interview
I did not make it past the first initial call with HR. If I had continued, the process would have included an interview with a manager, a problem to solve, a portfolio review, and an onsite interview
Although I did receive positive feedback from the recruiter during the interview and I was told I was moving on to the next round, this turned out to not be the case.
I'm not entirely sure what went wrong, but it could be that I did not send a thank-you note until the following week, which might have been interpreted as lack of enthusiasm. Regardless of your personal feelings about superficiality, I recommend that in your interview with Uber you act extremely excited about the company and the product. And send a thank you note immediately.