I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Samsara (San Francisco, CA) in Nov 2019
Interview
The interview stages were quite typical: phone screening with the recruiter, video interview with a designer, and lastly a site visit.
The recruiting team and process is actually quite professional and responsive. But I'd echo other reviews on product design interviews - there is still a very shallow understanding of design in their culture. The pretty branding and product demos can be misleading in this regard.
Overall, the interviewers were quite dull and disengaged. I met a total of seven people during my onsite visit which consist a mix of design and other disciplines. They barely show any sign of passion about what they do at this company.
There were some very arrogant things said: (Glassdoor does not allow me to reveal their titles, sorry)
"So tell me what you did at THIS _______(name of my previous employer)?" - May it be a well known or small company, the job deserves the same amount of respect.
"Oh we don't care about those people (customer employees who are users of their product)" ARE YOU SERIOUS?
The design exercise was quite easy in a sense. It's not the kind of problem that would challenge a seasoned designer's creativity or strategic thinking. Maybe it works on fresh grads. The pointers they give you also felt very PM oriented.
As for the portfolio review, the people in the session seemed quite junior. They were asking college-level questions such as how and with whom I did the field research - after I show them several pieces of field work evidence. In the end, all they cared was my visual /UI design work. When I asked how does design usually engage with customers, they mentioned they were quite happy when they occasionally get to "listen in and ask a few questions" in a call the PM and sales rep held with the customer.
If you do a bit of research on the cohorts, you'll find that design is a tiny group among
hundreds of engineers and another hundreds of sales people. No, design does not have a seat at the table despite what they tell you.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What's one thing that you learned from the customer that changed the design?
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Samsara (San Francisco, CA) in Aug 2025
Interview
I had applied via referral. The first round was a phone interview with the hiring manager. I was hoping to get selected because of my background but that didn't happen.
Standard rounds including an initial phone screen, portfolio review and chat with the hiring manager, portfolio review with the design team/panel, then final stage being the full day of interviews / "onsite"
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How are success metrics a part of your design process?
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Samsara (Indianapolis, IN) in Aug 2024
Interview
First round was a telephonic interview call from the hiring manager. Then it was a portfolio review and later on assignment and portfolio presentation round with the hiring manager. I dont know about next rounds.