I am writing this to help the management learn more and improve the interview experience for candidates.

The first round was a Tech Screening with the Hiring Manager. He was friendly and had extensive experience in the tech industry, making it a good experience talking to him.

From here comes the most embarrassing part of the interview. This round was supposed to be a System Design round, but the interviewer suddenly threw a hard-level coding question. I understand that a candidate is required to prepare for all necessary topics. However, this is a professional interview, not a school, to assess a candidate by giving a surprise test. The interviewer was more like a policeman interrogating a criminal, making me feel ashamed for not knowing something the candidate had never worked on. Since he was not prepared to ask System Design questions, he asked questions he had worked on extensively.

The second round was a coding round. The interviewer, again full of ego, was throwing random questions and did not stop even after the interview schedule. He just wanted an approach he knew and expected me to replicate it. I tried to explain why I had chosen a particular approach and its pros, but he was not ready to accept it, and the interview ran over 1.5 hours.

The third interview was supposed to be on the domain of expertise. However, the interviewer was busy munching something and just threw a random System Design question. I was explaining the components, functionalities, pros, and cons of different approaches, but I am very sure he was not listening to my words.

In the end, I requested and received feedback. To my surprise, the interviewers had written something out of sync with my experience. The feedback was more like a complaint letter instead of constructive areas for improvement.

I was not embarrassed to be rejected, but to encounter such an interview was a lifetime bad experience. I have met and worked with amazing technologists who are very simple and always up to share their knowledge. Here, however, people seemed to think of interviews as a platform to insult candidates and assert their own genius.

Please be humble and understand that an interview is not a chance to interrogate someone. Rather, it should be a friendly and healthy discussion to assess a person's skills, knowledge, and expertise. I believe that even with great compensation and perks, working with good colleagues matters the most.

Due to the acceptance of the NDA, I cannot share this information.