I applied through university. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Yahoo (Sunnyvale, CA) in Jan 2014
Interview
Interviewed with Yahoo as a new college grad. One phone coding interview, then invited to onsite for final interview where I had four one on one coding/puzzle interviews. Process took extremely long and my HR contact was very unorganized.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The most difficult question asked was to prove the upper bound on the number of nodes in a balanced binary tree. In order to prove it, the interviewer was looking for me to provide an inductive proof (this question caught me extremely off guard, have not done proofs in like three years). Definitely one of the more difficult interviews I have had, but I was very unprepared. My phone interviewer told me to expect an intense onsite coding interview where I was going to be expected to write an iOS application (experience is in mobile applications and I was interviewing for Yahoo Sports mobile). As a result, I spent a lot of time studying/practicing OOP and writing objective-c code. Much to my surprise when I was invited onsite, my interview was simply whiteboard coding questions. Most of the questions were binary tree and graph algorithm questions. In retrospect, I could have done much better on this interview if I were not misled by the previous engineer. Deep copy of a graph, dijkstras, order level tree traversal, big integer addition (just some of the questions). In short do not rely on engineers or HR to help you, study on your own and focus on graphs and trees.
HR made it a terrible experience. Engineers were also very anti-social and seemed to only care if you get the question right without regard for your approach. I also kept getting interrupted rudely while trying to write down code which confused me a lot and made me perform even worse. No point in working for or with people like that, imagine the frustration!
The selection process will consist of two rounds:
1. Online Coding Round – A technical assessment focused on your core tech stack.
2. Hiring Manager Interview (Online) – A virtual interview with the hiring manager to discuss technical depth, problem-solving approach, and alignment with the role.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Yahoo
Interview
The hiring manager did not show up at our originally scheduled meeting time. We rescheduled. The HM name dropped a bunch of big tech companies that they worked for in the past. It felt like the HM was hoping for me to provide a similar list of familiar brand names ... which was odd considering their supposed desire for more startup-y people.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a challenging project that you worked on.
The process was expected compared to most comparable jobs. Demonstrate and know your coding and you will do fine. The interview was fair and the hiring managers were all tech savvy. I accepted a different development position with another company a few days after the interview. It was a good experience overall.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is your time management strategy for meeting project time goals.