The interview process spanned two months, encompassing the following stages: HR screening, technical screen, hiring manager interview, and an onsite visit. This timeline was influenced by my limited availability and a no-show by an engineer during a technical screen.

I have two contrasting opinions of the company's engineering culture based on my interview experience:

The positive aspects:

• The company has launched organizational initiatives around diversity and inclusion in the past year, and it appears they are taking progress in this area seriously.
• The process leading up to the onsite interview was professional and organized.
• I genuinely enjoyed speaking with the hiring manager, recruiter, and several other team members, whom I found to be candid, respectful, and pleasant individuals.
• The technical questions were reasonable and accurately assessed engineering capabilities for the role.

The negative aspects:

• During one technical screen, an engineer appeared to dismiss me from the outset, spoke very little, and showed a distinct lack of interest throughout the interview. He also cut the interview short. I found this unprofessional and disrespectful of both our time. If I had provided incorrect information, I would have expected further probing or clarification rather than complete disengagement and prolonged silence.

• The engineer conducting the systems design session began normally but, early on, started interrupting me to "correct" what I considered trivial matters (e.g., suggesting a function name change from getBreakfastFoods() to getEdibleThingsYouEatInTheMorning()). When I asked clarifying questions, he responded by repeating his original statement more aggressively and condescendingly. As the session progressed, he continued to interrupt and shifted between high-level design and granular application details. I left with the impression that the requirements and expectations of my design kept changing, and that I would not enjoy working with this particular engineer.

While there were some positive elements, my interview experience, particularly with the systems design engineer, left me feeling that it was likely for the best that I was not extended an offer.

Signed an NDA