What happens during 'meet the team' days?

Question

I am a software developer based in UK and I recently passed 5 interviews with a company based in the Silicon Valley (Sales support and prototyping, broadly speaking).

I have been invited to fly over to California and spend 3 days meeting the team and talking to as many people as possible.

I get tired after 2-3 hours long interviews, 3 days sounds quite scary but I want to be successful.

What happens during 'meet the team' days? Are there unwritten rules or expected behaviours? Anything I should look out for? Is there a standard procedure?

Answer 1

What happens during 'meet the team' days?

As you say it is a 3-day meeting, so one of the following might be planned for you:

1. A long team project where you might be asked to collaborate with your future team, so that they can gauge your teamwork skills, interaction skills and your working style. These would be very important for you and also for the team.
2. You would have a series of interviews with a lunch session (maybe everyday) along with an office tour and a detailed presentation of what your role would be and what the company expects from you, once you have taken charge in that role.
3. 3-day whiteboarding

Are there unwritten rules or expected behaviours?

Yes, there are some. I don't think these might come as new or surprising to you, but I'll list them anyway:

1. Try not to fake your work culture: They are trying to gauge your working style and your culture, and the prospect of you becoming a nice fit. So, don't fake it before them. You, at your original best might be a perfect fit.
2. Display the same enthusiasm every day: Try your best to keep at the same enthusiasm level everyday. Don't let it droop.
3. Be a really good listener, and ask very well calculated(/formulated) questions

Is there a standard procedure?

No, each company has a different procedure of it's own. A possible pattern could be:

1. Introduction
2. Whiteboarding/interview/live coding with the team
3. Lunch
4. Casual/watercooler talk

Answer 2

Mostly these are sanity check kinds of interviews, making sure personalities will mesh reasonably well and that nothing jumps out as a red flag. Bad time to talk about your explosives hobby... Basically, be yourself, be informed about and interested in the position and the company, expect some technical interviewing but this isn't likely to be Spanish Inquisition.

If in doubt, it's legitimate to contact the company and ask about things like dress code (go up a half-step to a full-step from whatever they say is minimum acceptable) or whether there's anything special you should have prepared.