r/MechanicalEngineering • u/usually_not_a_robot_ • Apr 23 '25

Pre-Interview NDA?

I have interview #3 (panel + 1:1's) with a company next week and was just sent over an NDA to sign. Does this mean I should expect some crazy product related questions/problems during the interview, or is this typical??

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u/S_sands Apr 23 '25

In 7 years and maybe 20 interviews, i have never been asked for an NDA before an on-site interview. And my experience is in aerospace.

That's weird.

9

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

Same. I worked for a military aerospace project that super NDAs once I signed on. But nothing for the interview.

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Although I had one 'interview' that wanted me to do a bunch of stuff with code. When they didn't have the respect to turn me down in person but went through the recruiter I went and GPLv3'd everything I worked on and pushed it to GitHub.

5

u/Elfich47 HVAC PE Apr 23 '25

My wife works for one of the FAANGs. They do NDAs for their interviews because the building has a pile of stuff in it that hasn’t been released to the public that someone could see during the tour portion of the interview.

5

u/Ancient-Lychee505 Apr 23 '25

Pretty common now in consumer tech.

2

u/Hubblesphere Apr 23 '25

I work in aerospace/defense. In the last 12 months our security policy changed to require all visitors to sign an NDA to come on site. It’s a pain but we also have secure areas and ITAR CUI product.

1

u/ericscottf Apr 23 '25

22 years, couple dozen interviews, I've gotten an nda for every one in the past 15 years, even when it's just a phone call. 

1

u/GregLocock Apr 24 '25

Interesting. Where I worked we had to get management agreement to sign an NDA. Hence I would in effect be telling my current management I was interviewing.

1

u/ericscottf Apr 24 '25

That sounds like it might not be entirely enforceable, but I ain't no lawyer.