The initial communication was a phone call from an HR representative to set up a phone screen. The phone screen was scheduled for the next day and lasted about 45 minutes. It was mainly the hiring manager selling the job to me.

After the phone screen, an on-site interview was scheduled for the following week. This interview consisted of seven one-on-one sessions, each lasting 30-45 minutes. There was also a lunch that served as an additional interview.

The interview questions were all very technical. Many of the questions covered subjects not directly related to the job description.

After the interviews, the hiring manager and HR representative were very hard to reach. I thought I would not receive an offer given the cold shoulder I seemed to be getting. However, three weeks later, I was given an offer.

The only things that were somewhat difficult were when I was asked detailed questions about computer architecture concepts I had little experience with. For example, I was asked to explain out-of-order instruction execution. This is something I am familiar with at a high level, but have never had direct experience with. In fact, it wasn't a direct requirement for the job.

Overall, the interviewers asked me questions about their area of expertise, even though expertise in that area wasn't required for the job I interviewed for. I found this a bit strange.