The interview was great. The interviewer was very nice, and we had a nice conversation about the field over an enjoyable paired programming exercise.

The recruiting, on the other hand, was completely unprofessional and unbecoming of what one would expect from an organization of this stature. After the typical surface-level niceties during the recruiter call, the recruiting team ignored multiple emails and phone calls over the course of several weeks from me, asking for a follow-up on the status of the process.

As a person of color without a PhD from a top university, I have to wonder if I would have been afforded a modicum of professionalism had I a white-sounding name and a doctorate from Stanford. Probably.

My warning to you as a candidate: if you fall outside the typical profile of a Waymo employee (Tier 1 PhD), expect to be greeted with a fake smile and ultimately treated as disposable garbage by the recruiting team.

Pair programming exercise with SWE