Applied for a Staff Platform Engineer role on the vSphere networking team. Took about 3 weeks from application to offer.
Round breakdown: Recruiter screen (30 min). Standard screen, asked about experience with virtualization and Kubernetes. Pretty easy. Technical phone screen with a senior eng. Deep dive into networking concepts: overlay networks, how VXLAN works, NSX architecture. No LeetCode, just "explain this thing" style questions. I liked it. Virtual loop, 4 hours total over 2 days: system design (design a multi-tenant network isolation layer), two coding rounds (Python, nothing algorithmic, more scripting/debugging), and one behavioral with the hiring manager.
What surprised me: the system design panel had three interviewers watching at once, which felt like a lot, but they were actually pretty engaged and asked good follow-ups rather than just staring at me.
The behavioral questions were genuinely specific. Not "tell me about a conflict" but more like "describe a time you had to push back on a product decision that would have introduced tech debt." I got asked that one twice by different people, so clearly it's a signal they care about.
Offer came 8 days after the final round. Comp negotiation was low-friction. They moved on RSUs without much drama.
One flag: I asked about team headcount and the hiring manager was vague. Post-Broadcom the org is still shaking out. Worth getting specifics before you sign.