The worst interview I ever had was at a tech startup. I interviewed there between working as a postdoc and getting my research gig at Google Brain. I'll tell the story briefly.
It's nothing compared to this gem of a horror story, which you should totally read and enjoy.👇
After I decided to forgo academic jobs interviews, I looked around briefly at startup companies. There was a company in the bay area that specialized in hardware for DNA sequencing. They were looking for an algorithms expert and gave me an interview, given my neuro/DL background.
The company is in Foster City, which is a big biotech hub. I drive there, find the office, arrive on time and everything is going well. I meet the interviewer, who seems professional enough and we proceed to the interview room.
The interviewer opens up by pointing to my resume, saying he was impressed with the number of Nature articles I had. (Sorry for the humble brag, but it's relevant to the story).
He then asks me to derive the Kalman filter on the board for him. Now, in and of itself, this is not an insane ask. It's a tough question, but a fair one. My approach for a research interview would typically be to delve into material related to the resume, but here we are.
So I get up the board and attempt to derive the Kalman filter. Shit! I draw a blank! I had learned this and understood, etc., but I'm there and I'm flailing HARD.
Ultimately, I put the marker down and admit defeat. I tell him I am unable to derive the Kalman filter.
The interviewer says to me, and this is nearly a verbatim quote, as it's been burned into my skull, "I do not see how you could honestly come by first authorship on those Nature papers if you cannot derive a Kalman filter."
In my mind I was like "What? ? ? ?" I might have even been close to tears. I would like to tell you I had the presence of mind to stop the interview right there and storm out in righteous indignation.
But I didn't. I was shell shocked. I just stood there stupidly.
He asked me another technical question or two, and I went through the motions on board, but I my heart was no longer in it.
Finally, I had the presence of mind to say, "I don't think this interview is working out. I'm leaving." And I left the interview and the office.
And that was basically that. Some rando accused me academic fraud because I couldn't derive the Kalman filter in real time during a pop quiz in an interview.
My only regret is that I didn't angry.
The End, thanks for reading. 😎
Meanwhile, my colleagues are now, after reading this story, like, “Daaaaaaamm, Sussillo can’t derive a Kalman filter!” 🤣😂😅
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