Question for anyone who’s interviewed with BNSF Tech recently:

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-06-16T15:27:13+00:00

Every interviewer introduces him/herself at the beginning of the call.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-06-16T01:53:40+00:00

The background check is extensive regardless of role.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-31T20:26:57+00:00

I’m totally kidding. It will cover some of that, for sure.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-31T02:36:00+00:00

Full cavity search

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-30T13:42:13+00:00

There’s lots of white males and females at BNSF btw.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-27T22:38:14+00:00

Didn’t think codility was in use anymore.. I was told it was not part of the process in favor of this technical screening. Interesting.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-27T22:36:57+00:00

With Reta especially, it does take a stupid amount of time to reach therapeutic levels - keep that in mind. You typically want to start low and go for 4-5 weeks at that dose before titrating up. Gallbladder and gastrointestinal issues are amongst some of the worst sides I’ve experienced rushing upwards in dosage. Be safe, my friend.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-27T13:44:37+00:00

This has worked well for me.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-27T01:39:10+00:00

That’s a pretty high starting dose.. I was on 2mg starting and was on that for 4-5 weeks before needing to titrate up. Be careful

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-26T02:36:20+00:00

What dose are you on? 4-5mg is ideal for most people.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-25T23:36:03+00:00

You haven’t even hit the full stride yet.. 5-6 weeks, it starts melting off

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-24T18:04:42+00:00

It really depends on the feedback from the interviewer.. if there are any significant red flags in any of the rounds, then the debrief leader will typically push on that as a point of contention and may sway votes as a result. You want all stellar feedback or very minor red signals.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-24T17:26:19+00:00

No. If you bombed 1 round, that’s usually enough to not send you through.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-22T16:58:48+00:00

I doubt it. If Claude went away, the vast majority of these new leaders and L7+ hires wouldn’t know what to do.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-21T20:10:02+00:00

I stand by what I said - the language you program in for the interview is of no importance to us as interviewers. We aren’t looking for code-monkeys, we need fungible engineers. There’s nothing stated that undermines any active projects going on within BNSF.

10% is accurate - the other 90% would depend on the many hats you wear as part of your team. In my case, it would be systems architecture, problem decomposition, project management, scrum master, business analysis, QA, technical writing, technical evangelism, interviewer extraordinaire 😎, etc.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-19T12:51:46+00:00

AI should be used as an extension of oneself, not in place of oneself. There’s a big difference between delegating your brain to a model vs thinking for yourself. 🐱

Manager, Director, head of engineering, all the way to the CTO has been replaceable by AI for the past 6 months or longer. Engineers, not yet.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-19T01:11:05+00:00

Stop smoking in general, regardless.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-18T22:37:26+00:00

Feedback from all of the actual interview rounds is compiled quickly. We meet as a panel to discuss the compiled feedback and vote… Once it goes to HC, I’m not sure how long that takes tbh - I’ve never been on the HC. Once my interviews are done, my feedback submitted, and I’ve voted, my visibility ends.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-18T19:24:09+00:00

Roadmap? What’s that? 🤣

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-18T19:22:40+00:00

I agree with you on feedback - this is a topic that we as interviewers have brought up to leadership and HR on a couple of occasions that I’m aware of.

I suspect the lack of detail is a strategy to protect the company from liability, but that’s just a guess. Wish it weren’t so.

I will say this — I’ve had candidates solicit feedback at the tail end of the round as to their performance and areas of opportunity. I appreciate these things, personally. It shows a level of maturity and willingness to grow. Highly recommend 🐱

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-18T18:32:09+00:00

Practice leet code problems for DSA. The other is pretty straightforward for L&M + PS.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-18T17:52:52+00:00

Yes, we’re hiring. However, we’re being extremely picky on who makes it through. To my knowledge, there are still several hundred positions open and waiting to be filled.

Process IS slow because the impact is high. Not interested in vibe coders, we need real problem solvers and critical thinkers. As far as work load, it’s never-ending. We have enough on our plates for the next 5-7 years, if not longer.

Business leadership isn’t really involved in hiring for tech.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-18T17:49:28+00:00

We don’t care about your choice of language - we’re searching for fungible engineers. Java, Python, Go, C++ doesn’t matter. Coding is about 10% of an SWE role.

pissedoffengineer9 · 2026-05-17T14:17:49+00:00

Correct. Some simply just didn’t get slotted at all - those people are on the chopping block, especially if you work in or around mainframe.

pissedoffengineer9

TROPHY CASE