All in all, the interview process with Athena health was intense, but smooth and respectful all the way through. Lots of very smart people, people who clearly love where they are and want to make sure new people are both smart and will fit into the culture. Did I mention intense? Honestly, this seems to be only slightly more involved than most interviews for positions of the Swarts these days; the shortest interview I've had in the last three months was three hours. The AthenaHealth interview process involved about 12 people over two rounds, each of which lasted three hours. During those two rounds, I had two portfolio reviews and one design exercise; more than most places demand of you. Frankly, the two portfolio reviews were helpful; I missed the mark with a few things during the first one, and was able to target things a bit more carefully for the second one. It felt It felt like more of an opportunity than a burdenburden.

The interview process starts with a 30-minute phone screen, after which they bring you in for a 4-hour, highly structured marathon interview. You are introduced to someone who is close to the role you'd be applying for to talk about the work day and environment, followed by a one hour "portfolio review" (requested as a PowerPoint presentation, for an unspecified reason) with two employees, a one hour "resumé review" with two more employees, followed by a closing chat with the UX director. Ostensibly, doing well in this interview would actually lead to ANOTHER round of interview, which includes forced design exercises. The first and final conversations in the interview were lovely. You could tell that these individuals had committed to creating as good an environment as they could within the company, but you could also get a sense that it was a constant challenge to find a good balance. The middle portions of the interview were confusing at best, directly insulting at worst. First, the portfolio review was structured as a PowerPoint presentation. As UX Designers, we have to be storytellers, and sitting there trying to tell the story of a product while two people are staring at slides is frustrating. Much more can be conveyed with a simple conversation, followed by demonstrating wireframes or a prototype. The resumé review was the worst part of the process. Both people I talked with seemed more interested in poking holes in my resumé than in understanding what I do and how I work. I left feeling insulted, and pissed off that I'd gone through the entire process.