I applied online and was contacted by email to set up a phone interview with a Technical Recruiter. This interview was mostly a review of my resume, with some opportunities to discuss my key technical skills applicable to the job. The recruiter was very friendly and hinted several times about the "passion" and "dedication" required to work at Tesla.

The recruiter then passed me along to the hiring manager for a phone interview. She asked me to prepare a short summary of three technical projects to demonstrate my problem-solving experience.

The second interview did not go well. I had overestimated the technical requirements of the job. Also, because I thought I'd be doing more measurements and analysis, I had wrongly assumed I could bring work home so I could be home for dinner most nights. I understood going into the interview that Tesla hours are intense, but it also turned out that none of the work for this job could be done remotely.

The rest of the interview was okay. I had a lot to discuss regarding the prepared project summaries, as I had spent several hours reviewing old projects to select the most applicable three. The hiring manager asked me to pick any one of them for discussion. That went well, though the hiring manager indicated a bit later that this job wouldn't involve much "deep-dive type engineering measurements and analysis." By this point, I should have seen the writing on the wall and bailed, but I didn't want to give up.

There was also a short series of typical interview questions asked. Here are the ones I remember:

• Why Tesla?
• We have a lot of talented people. What makes you special?
• Are you more of a hands-on type person or a project manager?

The end of the interview was simply saying goodbye. The hiring manager didn't give me any indication about what was coming next and told me there was no "next." A few days later, I received a "thanks, but no thanks" email from the recruiter.

Overall, I was impressed with the interview process. Things moved along at a good pace; it was all completed within two weeks of applying online. The recruiter kept me in the loop, and everyone called on time as scheduled. The recruiter gave not-so-subtle hints about the workload. The hiring manager told me exactly how many hours per week he expected (60 in this case) and was transparent about what the job would actually entail (which wasn't as interesting as the written description). In the end, I agree with the hiring manager that I wasn't a good fit for the position.

Do you have any questions for me?