VERY basic. More conversational than structured questioning. I was asked by multiple people, "What is your biggest accomplishment?" Another popular question, "Why do you think you're a good fit?"

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Vince Walton · Accepted Answer

I interviewed for a Control System Engineering position a few years ago.  I am an expert in pointing and tracking control systems in Aerospace.  The interview was a complete waste of time.  I spent about a week to prepare a graphical presentation on my skills in designing advanced military pointing and tracking systems.  The Kymeta staff had no insightful questions and really did not care about what I could do for them to build a superior product.  It was as though the need had gone a way.  The questions that were answered in the structured interview by one individual was meaningless.  By the end of the interview the principal engineer in charge of my interview waltzed in and said let's wrap it up.  I was disappointed that I was not allowed to show my skills and background in a way that would really benefit the.  In the end, I told them they were going to be a failure due to the vibration environment and they were ignorant regarding solving end to end systems design.  It was the worst interview I ever had and was upset I had wasted my time.  

Initially, I drove around the parking lot to see how many costly vehicles there were.  There were none.  I knew going in that they must pay poorly as nobody is showing that they are doing well by having fancy cars.  I would never work for them.

If you look on LinkedIn, you will find they have had many employees in the past that were let go.  If you are young and straight out of school, it might be a good place to do advanced work.  For a senior engineer, I did not trust their systems approach and did not want to get blamed for the team doing a poor job.  Old guys want to avoid this and manage the risk in doing any job as a contractor, consultant or an employee. 

It is too bad I could not help them.  Maybe if I had talked to the CEO o Kymeta directly, I could have had the influence that I wanted to have.

In any event, be very careful signing up to work for Kymeta.

Anonymous · Answer

But if the antenna is meant to be steered electronically, why the gimbal?

Anonymous · Answer

You may believe that having fancy cars in a company's parking lot is evidence of the compensation package offered by any company but you may be narrow minded to think in this manner.

Vince Walton · Answer

I am done discussing my Kymeta interview experience.

Vince Walton · Answer

In a company doing advanced engineering development, I would expect to see some nice cars.
Not seeing a few really cars is just an indicator that I an employee might not be paid that well.
That is why I drove through the parking lot before the interview just to get an impression.
If you drive through Boeing parking lots and compare them to the Kymeta parking lot two years ago,
you would know there is a vast difference in average cost of the vehicles I saw!
I would agree with you that having a fancy car does not imply a fat paycheck.  
I do not buy new cars myself.  I drive my commuter cars into the dirt.  So, my cars would not be
a good indicator of having been paid well at Boeing.

Anonymous · Answer

By the way, sorry to hear this was one of the worst interviews you've ever had. Must have been particularly bad then. Would you give them a second chance if the opportunity were to arise?

Vince Walton · Answer

I am retired from Boeing now.  I would consider consulting or contracting but probably not full time work.
I have been retired from Boeing for more than 6 months now.  This means that I could return to Boeing as a consultant, contractor or a representative of vendor.  

At the time I interviewed, I really wanted to discuss their controls problem and show how my
high accuracy pointing and tracking background acquired at TRW and Ball Aerospace could
be applied to Kymeta's problem.  Kymeta did not share any details about their product so an 
good technical exchange was impossible.  About a year ago, I discovered on the web that Kymeta
had teamed up with a company to put their antenna on a gimbaled platform which would operate
under adverse base motion conditions.

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