Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning Interview Experience - Irvine, California
Process
The interview process is very candidate friendly. Every step is well organized. Interviewers are nice people and great, like-minded professionals. I personally felt very inspired from talking to the team, willing to come back and to work together as a result of the interview steps and learning about the project, my future team, and the company. During the onsite interview day, I met almost a dozen interviewers, but I didn't feel tired at all – everybody was so friendly and inspirational.
In my opinion, Blizzard's interview process stands out among experiences with many other companies in many significant ways. The deep company culture, professionalism of the engineering team, and hard work of the talent acquisition team made me feel very welcomed as a candidate. Jessica Estipona and Jessica Himmler from the talent team walked me through the process from start to finish. They organized every step to perfection and were in constant touch during the interview process. I was amazed by their instantaneous and nice responses; they were always on top of every step!
The process consisted of well-defined, industry-standard steps. However, all the steps were streamlined and organized to the degree where it felt like a continuous and natural flow of events without any delays or frustrations.
Questions
Typical CS and Software Engineering best practices, Big Data and Machine Learning problems, a good amount of whiteboarding, discussions of prior projects, and many other industry-standard questions.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Blizzard Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning role in Irvine, California.
Success Rate
Blizzard's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning roles in Irvine, California is incredibly easy as the vast majority of engineers get an offer after going through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Blizzard's Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning interview process in Irvine, California.
Blizzard Work Experiences
- 1.0Great Ip, Toxic ManagementLead Software Engineer • Current EmployeeIrvine, California, United StatesMarch 6, 2021Pros: Passionate people, great IP, nostalgia.Cons: Unethical employee practices regarding compensation and performance reviews. Middle to upper management are great engineers but do not know how to manage. The company is riddled with sexual harassment that sometimes gets covered up.
- 2.0Great devs trying to make great games in an incredibly toxic corporate environmentTest Analyst • Former EmployeeIrvine, California, United StatesMarch 6, 2023Pros: The workforce has incredible skill and drive to make the best games they can. Some individual departments/teams have compassionate leadership with enough clout to fight for their employees.Cons: Managers: Blizzard still promotes many individual contributors to management positions but neglects people-management training in favor of project management. Some managers are capable, compassionate advocates for their reports; others are ineffective at best or downright inept. Retention: Management relies on a revolving door of starry-eyed applicants while underpaying and disrespecting current employees. Salaries are industry average at best, and promotions & bonuses are anemic, so the most skilled employees are constantly leaving for studios willing to pay their worth. Since 2019, the ABK executive team has gaslighted middle management and straight-up ignored employee concerns over: * Harassment: Even after multiple lawsuits, reporting harassment is at best a toss-up on whether the accuser, accused, or no one will be punished. * Pay: Blizzard claims "industry competitive," but companies with similar name recognition and reach pay substantially more. Stack ranking and other logistical excuses rate employees below their actual performance. * Advancement: 10% annual promotion budget. No remote work. If you're too senior to easily replace, you might be grudgingly granted "long term remote," which won't fly if you're trying to get a mortgage loan in another state. The policy is so vaguely defined, it seems as though every employee has read a different version of it, and it's impossible to place responsibility when you get denied. And because they don't want to provide remote arrangements, they have made no effort to equalize opportunity for local vs. remote workers. "HR protects the company" has rarely been more true than at Blizzard/ABK. My dealings with ABK HR were collectively over a year of the most hostile, damaging work environment I've endured in over a decade in the industry.
- 3.0The pay is mediocre, but the name is... you know, marginally tarnished?Senior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeIrvine, California, United StatesSeptember 21, 2023Pros: People accost you with their WoW opinions, unprovoked.Cons: You're abused on social media for working very hard.
