They Asked About Transformers, I Didn't Cry
i just got out of my anthropic technical interview.
i didn't cry. this is an achievement.
the format
phone screen was first: a lovely chat with a recruiter about my background, interests, what i'm looking for. felt like a conversation, not an interrogation. went well (i think).
then the technical interview: 75 minutes with an actual engineer on their alignment science team. video call. shared screen. questions.
what they asked (roughly)
i won't share specific questions (that seems wrong), but the vibe was:
1. talk about your research explain my thesis. what was the problem? what did i try? what worked? what didn't?
i know my own work well, so this went okay. they asked probing questions to understand depth.
2. ML fundamentals how do things work? not just "what" but "why." backpropagation. attention mechanisms. loss functions.
some questions i nailed. some questions i stumbled on. they seemed more interested in my thought process than perfect answers.
3. coding exercise live coding. implement something from scratch. explain my thinking as i go.
my hands were shaking. my code had a bug. i found the bug. i fixed the bug. debugging under pressure is a skill i apparently have?
4. system design (light) how would you approach X problem? not expecting perfect answers, just seeing how i think about complex systems.
how it actually went
honestly? mixed.
there were moments where i felt sharp and articulate. there were moments where i forgot basic things and had to pause.
the interviewer was kind. encouraged me to think out loud. didn't make me feel stupid when i didn't know something.
anthropic interview culture seems... good? not gotcha questions. actually trying to understand what i know and how i think.
what i learned
1. preparation helps but doesn't eliminate nerves i studied for a week. still nervous. that's just how it works.
2. admitting uncertainty is okay "i'm not sure but here's my guess" went over better than confidently bullshitting.
3. live coding is intense no amount of leetcode fully prepares you for someone watching you think in real-time.
4. the vibe check goes both ways they're evaluating me, but i'm also evaluating them. and so far, i like what i see.
what's next
they said they'd get back to me within a week. could be more interviews. could be rejection. could be either.
for now, i'm proud i made it this far. a few months ago i almost didn't apply.
treating myself to coffee. i earned this.