CERN interview questions

After 3 months, I was contacted by a few different teams. We scheduled a convinient time for a Skype call. Every team had different approach to interview candidates. I applied for a position of the software developer. One interview was based on technical questions about a programming language and design patterns. Another one, invovled also a coding task online with time constraints. During each interview I was asked about my previous work experience and interests. Avarage time about 40 minutes.

I was not the first choice; I got an e-mail (two months after applying) in which it was stated: "On this occasion, no positive decision was taken in your case. However, your name has been put on the list of reserve candidates and your application may be reconsidered if a suitable vacancy arises (please note there is no ranking on the reserve list). For information, in case you do not hear from us by mid-February, you can consider your application as unsuccessful for this Committee." That was in December. I was sure it was just a nice way to say that I am not accepted but then: I actually got the call in mid-February! It was by a person from CERN's HR asking me am I still interested, and if I am my future supervisor will be informed and he will contact me. I was, of course. So I got an e-mail from him, with short description of what his group does, and he asked me if we can speak by phone on that and that date, in a certain time frame. So we did. He was great on the phone, my initial fright quickly dispersed and after all the questions and answers (from both of our sides), at the very end of the conversation, we even laughed. It was a very pleasant experience for me.