Great interview process, people were very kind, environment was very welcoming, facilities were very clean and inspection ready, and overall had a great time with the hiring team and the people in general
I applied through university. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at MIT (Boston, MA)
Interview
First got accepted to MIT. Then found a Research Assistant position. They were looking for a matching in interest, background and capabilities. Also the candidate should be open to exploring new areas, new datasets and be flexible if the project direction is constantly changed. Was required to handle projects with 3rd party companies.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
About by interest in machine learning. Also was asked about my programming and software development background, my interest in distributed systems.
I was admitted as a graduate student to one of the major departments. The department asked me what mu interests were and matched me to some professors, i.e., they made me go talk to a bunch of professors who acted like I was wasting their time for being there, felt really disrespectful and pointless.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They just made me talk to run down the clock, said a bunch of platitudes and that was it. Again, almost felt like sitting there and pretending to listen was a way for them to fulfill some quota, not seriously consider my candidacy. It took me about 3.5 years to get a stable RA (which, in my opinion, is ridiculous). But this was a good time to observe and realize the real reason -> they just hire each other -> the white professors hire white students (and some asians), the asian professors hire asian students (and some white ones), while I was told (I am a minority, not asian) "you just don't fit in here, good luck". A freaking joke.
