Process
This interview process was one of the harder ones I've done. A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn. We scheduled a short call where I told her my experience and she pitched me the position.
I then had a technical interview with the hiring manager where we discussed my experiences and projects more in depth technically. The next round was a take-home coding interview, basically just to show proficiency in C++. I was then invited on-site for the final round, which consisted of a 4-hour interview:
- Teamwork behavioral.
- Values behavioral.
- Technical/system design.
- A short presentation of a past project.
The behavioral interviews were a lot harder that I thought they would be; I started to run out of experiences to talk about since they were quite long. The technical portion is focused on strengths and tested system understanding and coding knowledge. The presentation was relaxed and Q&A was conversational.
Questions
How do you align with our values?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Shield AI Autonomy Engineer role.
Success Rate
Shield AI's interview process for their Autonomy Engineer roles 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 Shield AI's Autonomy Engineer interview process.
Shield AI Work Experiences
- 1.0Unqualified and Unethical Senior management. Ruined my life joining this companyAutonomy Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Diego, CAFebruary 14, 2024Pros: They offer snacks, free food, and a modern tech stack that they use. The pay is decent.Cons: People and Culture. Management holds grudges for months over minute issues that were easily fixed. Management often transfers blame to subordinates. My manager held a grudge on me for months for not camelcasing my variable names in my first Pull Request I ever did for the company. Management has 0 planning ability, thus engineers are forced to manage themselves such creating your own tickets at the beginning of each 2-3 week sprint. Management castigates you if you forget a minute conceptual detail, despite lacking basic concepts in Math, Stat, or Programming. I have wasted so much time explaining basic statistics to my manager who had an Engineering Master's. They talk about "saving lives," but there are many other drone companies out there that are more advanced than what is being made here.
- 2.0Avoid ShieldSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeFrisco, TXDecember 20, 2024Pros: Interesting work environment where people seem highly motivated. Cutting edge tech is fun to develop. There are very few “normal” days.Cons: Very blatant discrimination against women; there are 0 women in upper management. The C-suite is all men who are friends or family of the CEO. Goals and initiatives seem short-sighted. Many people get fired over budget cuts or layoffs at random so that the finance people are happier or the jobs page is “always hiring” new roles. Something like 20% of staff are fired every year. The equity/stocks are worthless because still has no profitable products and is only surviving on private investment.
- 1.0Micromanagement and poor benefits with no work-life balanceSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Diego, CAMay 2, 2026Pros: None none none none none.Cons: Work life balance, management, benefits, etc
