I submitted my resume and some work examples through their website. The position I applied to was focused on Python software development in support of the Avionics hardware team.

A few days later, I was contacted by a recruiter saying there was interest. The first step was to take an online C/C++ programming test. Initially, I was worried because my background is much more Python-oriented. I should not have worried; the test covered material that any serious programmer should know.

The second step in the process was a technical interview with the software engineer who headed up this particular software team. It's been quite a while since I've done an interview (10+ years), and the "technical" aspect of this interview caught me a little by surprise. I have done more homework on this topic since then and think the questions I was asked are probably typical. I fumbled around on a few, but I believe I gave good answers for the rest. When I was uncertain, I made sure to talk through my thought process as I tried to find a solution.

Towards the end, I received somewhat negative feedback that my work experience might be too "researchy" for the position in question.

The third step was a week-long programming challenge assignment. The topic was not at all technical or work-related. I basically had to create a simple text console application in Python, given a handful of requirements. I spent sooooo much time on this task! It was frankly a lot of fun. On the last day, I misjudged my time and was not able to meet all the requirements. I feel quite strongly that the work I put into that task very clearly shows my Python programming strengths. Given the earlier doubts they had, I think this (small?) error on my part gave them an easy way to tell me "thanks, but no thanks."

The recruiter told me that the only feedback he received from the engineer about my programming test was that it was incomplete, with no further details. My application was closed.

The entire process took about a month. Many days would go by when I thought I was waiting for them to make the next step happen. When I would get in touch with the recruiter, it would turn out he was waiting for info from the engineer, who in turn thought her part was done.

I basically had to create a simple text console application in Python, given a handful of requirements.