My interview experience with this company was disappointing and raised several red flags. The hiring manager was quite late and seemed impatient and disengaged throughout the conversation, but that was minor relative to everything else.
One of my key concerns arose when I asked about the company’s core value of "speed above all things." This seemed like a potential conflict, especially for a company focused on safety. Boeing’s plane crashes came to mind when speed was prioritized over safety, so I wanted to understand how a company focused on autonomous vehicle safety reconciles these two priorities. Unfortunately, the response I received was vague and evasive, which didn’t inspire confidence.
I later learned that the core value had been changed to "move fast, move safe," which appeared to be a reactive shift. The entire interaction left me feeling uneasy, as if there were deeper issues the company was reluctant to acknowledge.
Another example of the cultural contradictions I observed was the company's focus on "saving lives" through autonomous technology, while also launching a defense division aimed at supporting the "warfighter." I understand the importance of defense companies, especially in today’s geopolitical landscape, but it seemed contradictory for a company promoting safety and saving lives to emphasize "speed above everything else" even in defense projects.
This raises the question of how the company’s original vision for autonomous vehicles evolved into a focus on defense. Greater transparency around this shift would have been appreciated. Ethical dilemmas in business deserve careful reflection.
After doing more due diligence following my first interview, I discovered more significant cultural issues. One red flag was that employees were instructed to use “Engineering” for their LinkedIn titles. This may seem trivial, but dictating how employees present themselves struck me as a sign of potentially unhealthy power dynamics.
These observations were informed by the "BITE Model" developed by cult expert Steven Hassan, which describes how authoritarian groups seek to control behaviors, information, thoughts, and emotions. When an organization or individual seeks to exert a high level of control, it’s important to be cautious. This is particularly relevant in environments that recruit vulnerable groups, such as college students, who may be more susceptible to manipulative or cult-like influences. The insight about the susceptibility of college students -- coupled with how many new grads work at Applied -- gave me pause.
Ultimately, this experience left me with serious reservations about whether the company truly lives by the values it promotes. For prospective candidates, I would advise approaching with caution.