It was great to meet with the manager face to face and do interview at IBM's office. I think finding the right manager is the key here. We talked about my past experiences what I have done, achieved and team contributions etc. and what I'd to do in the future.

I applied directly through the IBM website for a Partner Technical Specialist - Data position. Within a week of applying, I had a phone screen with an HR / talent acquisition person who asked the standard questions (work experience and basic technical background; why am I looking for a new position; why IBM; compensation expectations; etc.) One week after that was a practical interview with a manager from a different team than what I had applied to. The prompt was to present a 5-10 minute sales pitch on an app that I use as if I were a part of that company. The rest of the time was a standard interview with questions around personality, technical background, sales background. I was a little put off by this interviewer making a comment that he was unrelated to the team I was applying to and wasn't sure why he was brought into the process. A week after that was an interview with the hiring manager - again, pretty standard questions and then discussion about the role and team dynamics; no presentation or practical aspect in this one. Overall, I got the impression that they were looking for someone who was more familiar with the data and analytics side of things rather than my more hardware-focused background; and that was confirmed by them ghosting me completely - even when I followed up directly. Two months later I received an automated, boilerplate "position has been filled" message.