I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Epic (Madison, WI) in Nov 2019
Interview
I submitted my application and was contacted within a week to set up a phone call. I talked to someone who worked on the User Experience team and was asked why I applied at Epic and what my interests were and what brought me to my school etc. - Pretty general stuff overall and no hard hitting interview-y questions, just general about me!
I was contacted later that day and given my design project that I was asked to take up to 10 hours to complete within the next week, and was also asked to schedule a time to take a proctored test and a personality test.
The design project was fun and interesting to think about, and I was really happy with how mine turned out. The personality test was pretty straightforward in ranking which personality traits listed were the most like you to the least. The proctored exam was long and pretty tough.
The test was run through a proctoring company where there were strict restrictions on background distractions and being within the view of the webcam at all times. You could have a calculator and a sheet of paper and pen to work with. The test had a few sections, some of them seemed more IQ general stuff that was times, and then the hard part was the coding logic test. You were initially asked about your background with coding, and I'd had some but not extensive background which I think really helped me because the test was based off of learning rules that had a very coding-like logic to them and then building answering questions that got more complex the more rules you had learned. I think the language used in the "teaching" segments were not worded clearly at all and it was not set up in a way that made it easy to pick up the information, but I suppose that may have been intentional to sift through applicants?
About a week after submitting my design project I was invited to visit the Epic campus (on a weekday) and asked to provide my availability. I was flown out on a Sunday and arrived in the early afternoon where I stayed at the beautiful Edgewater Hotel downtown and had some time to walk around the city before I met up with a few other applicants and a couple employees. We walked downtown to a restaurant and had dinner, chatted, and got questions answered about Epic.
The next morning I left the hotel very early with my luggage and took a taxi to Epic with a few other applicants. We stored our luggage and were given a concise plan for the day, starting with an overview of Epic as a company and followed by a meeting with someone from the team I was applying for who overviewed the position and the benefits. I also met with someone for the team for a more official Interview where I was asked further about my design practices etc. but my portfolio was never directly discussed. I later met with another employee from the team who asked me to do a simple design exercise and asked me more about the role I'd like to take in the team. I also was taken on a tour of the campus with a few applicants, had lunch with a couple applicants and an employee, and then wrapped up the day by meeting with an HR rep.
I was called up and offered a job a week later, and then accepted it!
Quick note: Epic does not negotiate salaries
The interview process consisted of an initial recruiter screening, followed by a hiring manager interview and several rounds with cross-functional team members. The discussions focused on my product design experience, design thinking process, collaboration with engineers and product managers, and portfolio case studies. I was also asked to explain how I approach ambiguous problems and measure the impact of my work. The process was professional and well-structured, and communication was timely throughout.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I walked through a recent project from problem discovery to launch. I explained how I conducted user research, identified key pain points, explored design concepts, collaborated with engineers, and validated solutions through testing. I also shared measurable outcomes and reflected on lessons learned during the project.
Got to the phone call interview stage.
Along with the phone call, I had to complete a virtual skills assessment that testing math and problem-solving skills (applying layered logic from a fake coding language).
Received an initial call about the position, finished a couple of assessments, completed a take home design exercise, and in the process of the final 4hr interview. The design exercise is given with a prompt in which you must fulfill the requirements in 5 hours or less. You have a week to finish the exercise, but for the most part, it was pretty fun.
