Interviews During Covid
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TLDR
- The Hynix-Intel acquisition sparked job change thoughts, but 2021's hiring boom prompted action.
- Remote work and virtual interviews during the pandemic allowed discreet job exploration.
- Initial interest in Rivian faded due to skepticism; declining further interviews seemed wise as Rivian's stock plummeted post-IPO.
The thought of changing jobs first came to me when it was announced that Hynix was going to acquire Intel (where I worked before Covid), but I never took any action. It wasn't until 2021, when tech companies started hiring like crazy, that I started getting emails from recruiters and decided to give it a try.
Working from home during the pandemic, combined with the fact that all interviews were conducted remotely, made it very convenient for people who wanted to change jobs and interview with other companies. I was one of the beneficiaries. Before the pandemic, it would be very obvious if you were secretly interviewing, especially during the week. For example, if a colleague suddenly took a day off on Wednesday and came back to work the next day, it was very likely that they had gone for an interview. During the pandemic lockdown, you didn't even need to take a day off as long as you were sure you didn't have any meetings on the day of the interview.
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Company interviews usually have two stages. The first stage is a phone interview, which usually has only one or two interviewers and lasts about an hour. If you pass, you will have a second stage on-site interview, where you will have to come to the company and be interviewed by five or more interviewers individually. This usually takes a whole day. During the pandemic, of course, both of these became phone or video interviews, which was very convenient.
The first company to approach me was Rivian, an electric vehicle startup. At the time, they were preparing for an IPO, and the company seemed very promisng with everyone talking about electric cars. During the first round of interview, the interviewer asked me why I wanted to leave Intel. He laughed and said that if he were me, he would rather stay at Intel, which he believed is a better company. I lost half of my interest in Rivian after hearing that; it seems the interviewer doesn't have much confidence in the company. Later, he asked me about my work at Intel, and I also asked him how Rivian collects data, wanting to know how they do quality control. He also mentioned that a lot of things are handled in the factory, and I need to learn how to get along with the factory workers; they were very different from engineers in the wafer fab who have similar background as me, and I need to be mentally prepared.
Rivian Stock
A few days after the first stage interview, they emailed me to invite me to the second stage interview and to prepare a slide presentation to briefly introduce my work experience. I declined their invitation and said that I decided to stay at Intel. A few months later, in November 2021, Rivian went public. The stock price opened high and then fell all the way down. From the IPO price of US$129, it fell to only US$11 in March 2024, a drop of 91%. Because the compensation of startup employees is mostly in the form of stocks that can be seen but not sold, if I had joined them at that time, my salary would have definitely been cut in half.