I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Hopper in May 2019
Interview
I only got through 3 parts: a quick phone screen with the recruiter, a broad homework assignment, and a longer 1:1 video chat with a senior member of the team. All of my interactions were pleasant and informative. The homework consisted of a sample dataset with ~1 million records of interactions/outcomes on the app and very intentionally broad questions about the business insights you could gather from it. It would have been nice if they narrowed the scope a bit so I didn't have to spend so much time poking around for interesting tidbits. The 1:1 was a dud because the team lead asked what she called a "brain teaser" (unclear why people insist these are useful anyway) but was really a domain specific question with a particular answer in mind.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Hopper gets recommendations wrong in 2 ways: it says to buy tickets and ticket prices drop, or it says to wait and prices rise. Say data scientists develop an algorithm that reduces the later. How would you test for a measurable change? What would you control for? What external data would you try to gather to control for the change?
I applied online. I interviewed at Hopper (Madrid) in May 2024
Interview
1st Round with Hiring Manager
It was cancelled twice and finally when she made it she was very late and rude during the whole interview. I was thinking to quit immediately after 1 minute.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about projects where you had a great impact
The process took 5 days. I interviewed at Hopper (New York, NY)
Interview
There is a reason that none of the interview experiences have been positive for this company. In the first 5 minutes of my interview, I was talked down upon, discouraged to think I was qualified, and was compared against other candidates when I never asked about it. All because I did not use SQL in the past to do pricing. First off, SQL can help you query databases but it will not build you a pricing algorithm. The whole interview was a waste of time. I even studied the 50 page pdf they sent prior to. The recruiter was unprofessional as well - wore a graphic tee, rushed through the meeting, and didn't review my resume or portfolio.
IMHO, what they call "fintech" is actually just a glorified term for insurance fees. No smart pricing, just a fixed deposit. They're dealing with a class action lawsuit due to shady verbiage. I also had a ton of questions to challenge the pdf they sent me but never got a chance. Overall, I got a clear picture of the company culture and people. Dodged a bullet.
Not a very good interview as it left a bad taste in my mouth. The interviewer I got was the least personable one I've ever gotten. He deflected nearly all my questions I asked about the company or gave the most generic one possible. He didn't listen all that much to what I was saying during our interview. It really felt like he didn't care or liked his job and that left a big impression. I was happy to get a rejection so quickly the morning after and uninstalled the app along with it too.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How does your experience with X technology help this company?