Zipline

Flight Validation Engineer Interview Experience - South San Francisco, California

June 2, 2022

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks.

Phone Screen with recruiter ~30min.
Interview with hiring manager ~1hr.
Take home coding challenge ~ 6hrs.
Coding challenge review with hiring manager ~1hr.
Onsite prep call ~ 30m.
Virtual onsite interview. Culture interview with HR. Drone systems interview with a team lead. System interview with another team lead. Flight validation in depth interview with hiring manager. ~5hr.
Virtual tour of facilities ~30min.
Rejection call ~5min.

Pros:

Overall the interview was reasonable.
No LeetCode challenges.
Cool humanitarian work around the globe with drones.
Coding challenge was very reasonable.

Cons:

The hiring manager was fairly new to the company and was extremely vague about the responsibilities of the position.
I didn't understand the work until the interview with other team leads.
Challenging to get clarification about the position's job title and responsibilities.
Long interview process.

Questions

There was a take-home coding challenge to build a client app that uses an API. They didn't have an actual API to make calls to. They instead used JPGs of expected responses for various requests.

Was this helpful?

Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Zipline Flight Validation Engineer role in South San Francisco, California.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Zipline's interview process for their Flight Validation Engineer roles in South San Francisco, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral100%

Negative0%

Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Zipline's Flight Validation Engineer interview process in South San Francisco, California.

Zipline Work Experiences

Environment

Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

February 7, 2024

Pros: There is a good working environment and flexible working hours.

Cons: Getting housing around San Francisco is hectic and challenging.

Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

February 7, 2024

Pros: There is a good working environment and flexible working hours.

Cons: Getting housing around San Francisco is hectic and challenging.

A fulfilling place to work

Senior Robotics • Current Employee

January 24, 2017

Pros: It's an incredible project and an excellent team.

Cons: You'll get paid more working at Google/Facebook/Amazon.

A fulfilling place to work

Senior Robotics • Current Employee

January 24, 2017

Pros: It's an incredible project and an excellent team.

Cons: You'll get paid more working at Google/Facebook/Amazon.

Dream job quickly turned nightmare. "Cult" like atmosphere

Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Catered Lunch Passionate people Interesting tech "Altruistic" mission

Cons: Where to begin... Let's start with expectations. All employees are held under a intense scrutiny to perform. There is a timeline here at play, as Zipline is looking to turn a profit and that involves getting as many "Nests" up and running as they possibly can. This has led to completely unrealistic expectations on what can, and cannot be done. Upper management guns for anyone who sticks their head out, and problems aren't dealt with, rather they are squashed by getting rid of the one who speaks up. Verbal abuse is common, and it seems like the people who actually care, get defecated on even more. Morale is poor. It's turned into a labor camp of sorts where everyone is so burned out all the time. Another reviewer described it as "Engineering Puppy Mill", which is an apt description. Encouragement from defeated peers are repeated constantly such as "At least we're delivering life saving medicines in Africa". Which is true, and certainly worthy of appreciation but this has become problematic as it turns out the altruistic mission has just been a way for zipline to bootstrap itself into the commercial market, of delivering lattes, and lunches. This reflects on the leadership of the company as a whole, as being Machiavellian and conniving. These people are shrewd, cutthroat and intelligent. They have one goal and one goal only- Expansion. Backstabbing is common, and politics are rampant. It's an environment of survival of the fittest, and the competition is fierce. I'm not really sure what to make of it any more. All you can do is keep your head down; because if you rock the boat, you WILL be taken out.

Dream job quickly turned nightmare. "Cult" like atmosphere

Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Catered Lunch Passionate people Interesting tech "Altruistic" mission

Cons: Where to begin... Let's start with expectations. All employees are held under a intense scrutiny to perform. There is a timeline here at play, as Zipline is looking to turn a profit and that involves getting as many "Nests" up and running as they possibly can. This has led to completely unrealistic expectations on what can, and cannot be done. Upper management guns for anyone who sticks their head out, and problems aren't dealt with, rather they are squashed by getting rid of the one who speaks up. Verbal abuse is common, and it seems like the people who actually care, get defecated on even more. Morale is poor. It's turned into a labor camp of sorts where everyone is so burned out all the time. Another reviewer described it as "Engineering Puppy Mill", which is an apt description. Encouragement from defeated peers are repeated constantly such as "At least we're delivering life saving medicines in Africa". Which is true, and certainly worthy of appreciation but this has become problematic as it turns out the altruistic mission has just been a way for zipline to bootstrap itself into the commercial market, of delivering lattes, and lunches. This reflects on the leadership of the company as a whole, as being Machiavellian and conniving. These people are shrewd, cutthroat and intelligent. They have one goal and one goal only- Expansion. Backstabbing is common, and politics are rampant. It's an environment of survival of the fittest, and the competition is fierce. I'm not really sure what to make of it any more. All you can do is keep your head down; because if you rock the boat, you WILL be taken out.

Environment

Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

February 7, 2024

Pros: There is a good working environment and flexible working hours.

Cons: Getting housing around San Francisco is hectic and challenging.

5.0
Environment
Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee
San Francisco, CA
February 7, 2024
Pros: There is a good working environment and flexible working hours.
Cons: Getting housing around San Francisco is hectic and challenging.

A fulfilling place to work

Senior Robotics • Current Employee

January 24, 2017

Pros: It's an incredible project and an excellent team.

Cons: You'll get paid more working at Google/Facebook/Amazon.

5.0
A fulfilling place to work
Senior Robotics • Current Employee
January 24, 2017
Pros: It's an incredible project and an excellent team.
Cons: You'll get paid more working at Google/Facebook/Amazon.

Dream job quickly turned nightmare. "Cult" like atmosphere

Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Catered Lunch Passionate people Interesting tech "Altruistic" mission

Cons: Where to begin... Let's start with expectations. All employees are held under a intense scrutiny to perform. There is a timeline here at play, as Zipline is looking to turn a profit and that involves getting as many "Nests" up and running as they possibly can. This has led to completely unrealistic expectations on what can, and cannot be done. Upper management guns for anyone who sticks their head out, and problems aren't dealt with, rather they are squashed by getting rid of the one who speaks up. Verbal abuse is common, and it seems like the people who actually care, get defecated on even more. Morale is poor. It's turned into a labor camp of sorts where everyone is so burned out all the time. Another reviewer described it as "Engineering Puppy Mill", which is an apt description. Encouragement from defeated peers are repeated constantly such as "At least we're delivering life saving medicines in Africa". Which is true, and certainly worthy of appreciation but this has become problematic as it turns out the altruistic mission has just been a way for zipline to bootstrap itself into the commercial market, of delivering lattes, and lunches. This reflects on the leadership of the company as a whole, as being Machiavellian and conniving. These people are shrewd, cutthroat and intelligent. They have one goal and one goal only- Expansion. Backstabbing is common, and politics are rampant. It's an environment of survival of the fittest, and the competition is fierce. I'm not really sure what to make of it any more. All you can do is keep your head down; because if you rock the boat, you WILL be taken out.

1.0
Dream job quickly turned nightmare. "Cult" like atmosphere
Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee
April 12, 2023
Pros: Catered Lunch Passionate people Interesting tech "Altruistic" mission
Cons: Where to begin... Let's start with expectations. All employees are held under a intense scrutiny to perform. There is a timeline here at play, as Zipline is looking to turn a profit and that involves getting as many "Nests" up and running as they possibly can. This has led to completely unrealistic expectations on what can, and cannot be done. Upper management guns for anyone who sticks their head out, and problems aren't dealt with, rather they are squashed by getting rid of the one who speaks up. Verbal abuse is common, and it seems like the people who actually care, get defecated on even more. Morale is poor. It's turned into a labor camp of sorts where everyone is so burned out all the time. Another reviewer described it as "Engineering Puppy Mill", which is an apt description. Encouragement from defeated peers are repeated constantly such as "At least we're delivering life saving medicines in Africa". Which is true, and certainly worthy of appreciation but this has become problematic as it turns out the altruistic mission has just been a way for zipline to bootstrap itself into the commercial market, of delivering lattes, and lunches. This reflects on the leadership of the company as a whole, as being Machiavellian and conniving. These people are shrewd, cutthroat and intelligent. They have one goal and one goal only- Expansion. Backstabbing is common, and politics are rampant. It's an environment of survival of the fittest, and the competition is fierce. I'm not really sure what to make of it any more. All you can do is keep your head down; because if you rock the boat, you WILL be taken out.

Copyright © Taro