Step 1: call with recruiter Step 2: download product (if you're not a former customer) Step 3: use the crap out of the product and fall in love with it...or just stop the process Step 4: Call with hiring manager Step 5: Build a workbook with specifications given by Recruiter Step 6: Call with colleague for technical interview Step 7: In person interview: demo the workbook you've built. Show your analysis skills, your ability to talk to customers, discuss, think on the fly. Show your creative problem solving Step 8: Accept Job offer

I interviewed with the recruiter, the hiring manager and a person currently doing the job I was applying for and those interviews went well enough for them to request for me to fly up for a day of extended interviews and deliver a product demonstration. Once I began the interviews at the company location what had been a fairly positive experience changed drastically. The expectations for the position seemed to be very different than the previous conversations about the position. As it turned out they were looking for someone whose background was more consistent with an architect role. It became clear to me quickly that I was not at all what they were looking for in the position. I felt like my skillset and my resume matched the job description and it seemed to match what they were looking for in previous conversations but there seemed to be a significant disconnect in what they were actually looking for in a candidate. I fielded some strange questions like "What are your superpowers?" and then sent me packing about 2 hours into the all day interview. I still think Tableau has a terrific product, and I think they have a great corporate culture but I didn't feel like the people who I spoke with in the company office had never seen my resume and had no idea what my skillsets are. It was like one of those dreams where you are about to take an exam in college and you realize you have never taken the course. I spent quite a bit of time putting together a product demonstration and we never made it to that part of the interview. Had it been clearer to me that they were looking for a more technical resource, I would have either excused myself from the process early on, or refreshed myself on the more technical aspects of data warehousing and server optimization rather than spending time learning how to use their product.