15 candidates in room given 30 minute overview of Intel. Then my first 2 interviewers took me to a room, we chatted on the way, very pleasant. I thought I knew one from F20, D1C, or D1D circa 2003-5, but he said he was previously at D2. They both had copies of my resume and obviously read it before the interview. They asked me to talk through the resume briefly. One interviewer is an IC, very sharp. He asked me about my PhD research, e.g. why is ZrB2 a conductor. I replied "I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with XY and Z". He replied "Very interesting. I actually didn't know, and am just curious". He then described his current technical challenges, trying to find key inputs in front end processes that affect chip performance... I offered solitions, he asked if I'd heard of traveling salesman problem ( I replied yes), he then described to algorithms to approach that, I replied that I never heard of those but I was familiar with the ant pheromone simulation to attack the problem. At this point, I realized he wasn't interviewing me so much as we were discussing possible solutions to his current problems. The other interviewer asked stock questions such as "How do you deal with a manager when you strongly disagree with them?" They acknowledged my very strong technical background both at Intel previously (2001-2008) and since 2008 doing aerospace GNC work for my own company. They also asked "Why Intel" which for me was easy to answer. My answer was how solid the closed loop communication is, great ownership of ARs, and it's an exciting time to jump on board just prior to the so-called leakage limit of upcoming 5 nm tech node. The IC interviewer said "When you come to Intel, I mean if you come to Intel, do you prefer manager path, or IC path?" I replied IC path. They also asked how I'd run meetings, specifically how I deal with less experienced engineers. I replied it very important to encourage and not crush their spirits, that they have gift of being more free of limiting assumptions, so they have duty to speak up. Second interview was with a PE and PE GL. Their questions ping ponged between behavioral and technical, though the technical level was trivial, like "tell us about SPC", said with a smirk on interviewer's face. I replied "given the smirk, are you implying something better than SPC has replaced it?" He said "no, im just looking for you to describe SPC". So I spoke from mixture of memory and what memorized on Wikipedia. They seemed satisfied. I also prepared a few dozen questions for all my interviewers, with focus on qualifying quality of life at Intel as a senior engineer. They answered my questions well, though I stated some concerns and possible solutions.
