Applications Developer Interview Experience - Pleasanton, California
September 1, 2011
Negative ExperienceNo Offer
Process
I applied on their website and didn't hear back for about a month.
Then, I spoke with the HR person and scheduled a time to talk with a former colleague from a previous company. That interview went as expected.
An onsite interview followed a week or so later, consisting of three hours of sitting at a computer making their broken test code run and implementing some basic logic in their application code.
Next, I went to lunch with four people, mostly developers.
After lunch, there was a panel review of my code changes, followed by a 1:1 with a developer and then an overview of the system by the hiring manager (the same former colleague).
After a week or so, I received a voicemail with no specifics, and I declined to call back. I received a few more voicemails, but no email.
I assume I failed. Even if I hadn't failed, it was such a miserable interview that I didn't want to accept even if they did offer.
Questions
What do you think of unit testing and mock objects?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 9 interview experiences for the Workday Applications Developer role in Pleasanton, California.
Success Rate
22%
Pass Rate
Workday's interview process for their Applications Developer roles in Pleasanton, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive56%
Neutral22%
Negative22%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Workday's Applications Developer interview process in Pleasanton, California.
Workday Work Experiences
2.0
Don't make the same mistake I did
Applications Developer • Current Employee
Pleasanton, California, United States
October 23, 2018
Pros: Good culture, fun co-workers.
Great work-life balance.
Stock is doing well, good ESPP plan, stock refreshers.
The Generation Workday new grad program is a good way to make friends.
Cons: Workday’s app dev teams are the product engineering teams, and they build the app using a proprietary GUI-based language called Xpresso. The tools teams work on infrastructure, and they use traditional programming languages like Java and Scala. This review is about app dev only.
Hate to say it, but working in Xpresso is a very bad career move for engineers coming straight out of college. Unless you are proactive and work on side projects or continue to learn in your free time, you will forget your traditional coding skills. You will also not be exposed to industry-standard practices and tools by working in a proprietary stack. If you ever decide to leave, you'll likely struggle to find a traditional coding job. Workday probably has good retention rates for app devs not because app devs don't want to leave, but because they can't leave.
They tell you that you’ll still learn high-level concepts like design and OOP, but I don’t think it’s enough to make you a competent engineer. They also tell you that you can eventually transfer to a tools team, but it seems like you have to spend several years doing app dev first before you can switch.
Also, I think the salary for app devs is below industry average.
5.0
Real Work, Free Housing!
Applications Developer • Current Employee
Pleasanton, California, United States
January 25, 2015
Pros: In one sentence, it was awesome.
I was in app dev. After six weeks of training, I took on cases just like full-time employees. So, I wasn't just doing tedious work or anything; I got to do what a full-time employee did every day.
Housing included
Competitive wage
Cons: No cafeteria (but there's food nearby).
No gym (but who uses company gyms, anyway?).
5.0
Great Company with a Culture to Match
Applications Developer • Current Employee
Pleasanton, California, United States
March 21, 2014
Pros: Training here is long but very helpful to get you situated. There's flexibility in schedule, smart and amazing people to work with, and everyone you see is excited to be at work.
Cons: For App Developers, you need to keep other programming languages in your back pocket because you won't get to practice them here.
- 2.0Don't make the same mistake I didApplications Developer • Current EmployeePleasanton, California, United StatesOctober 23, 2018Pros: Good culture, fun co-workers. Great work-life balance. Stock is doing well, good ESPP plan, stock refreshers. The Generation Workday new grad program is a good way to make friends.Cons: Workday’s app dev teams are the product engineering teams, and they build the app using a proprietary GUI-based language called Xpresso. The tools teams work on infrastructure, and they use traditional programming languages like Java and Scala. This review is about app dev only. Hate to say it, but working in Xpresso is a very bad career move for engineers coming straight out of college. Unless you are proactive and work on side projects or continue to learn in your free time, you will forget your traditional coding skills. You will also not be exposed to industry-standard practices and tools by working in a proprietary stack. If you ever decide to leave, you'll likely struggle to find a traditional coding job. Workday probably has good retention rates for app devs not because app devs don't want to leave, but because they can't leave. They tell you that you’ll still learn high-level concepts like design and OOP, but I don’t think it’s enough to make you a competent engineer. They also tell you that you can eventually transfer to a tools team, but it seems like you have to spend several years doing app dev first before you can switch. Also, I think the salary for app devs is below industry average.
- 5.0Real Work, Free Housing!Applications Developer • Current EmployeePleasanton, California, United StatesJanuary 25, 2015Pros: In one sentence, it was awesome. I was in app dev. After six weeks of training, I took on cases just like full-time employees. So, I wasn't just doing tedious work or anything; I got to do what a full-time employee did every day. Housing included Competitive wageCons: No cafeteria (but there's food nearby). No gym (but who uses company gyms, anyway?).
- 5.0Great Company with a Culture to MatchApplications Developer • Current EmployeePleasanton, California, United StatesMarch 21, 2014Pros: Training here is long but very helpful to get you situated. There's flexibility in schedule, smart and amazing people to work with, and everyone you see is excited to be at work.Cons: For App Developers, you need to keep other programming languages in your back pocket because you won't get to practice them here.
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