Initially, I was impressed there was a hiring handbook. I read it thoroughly to prepare for my interview. In the end, it wasn't followed at all, so why did I waste my time reviewing something that wasn't going to be followed.

• I interviewed for the Engineering Manager, Frontend position.
• The interviewer was my peer, another Engineering Manager, Frontend. He asked me some STAR questions, which I believed I answered thoroughly and sufficiently. He then went into some technical questions, and before asking me these questions, said that he knew I wouldn't spend a lot of time coding, so it was okay if I didn't know all the answers. I aced the technical questions segment. He then asked me to screen share and, to my surprise, asked me to create a LinkedList data structure. I was completely thrown off guard but completed 50% of the code based on his guidance.
• After a few days, I was turned down for an interview, and after inquiring, I was told by the recruiter that "they" felt my Frontend skills were not at the level they needed. I have been doing JS for 17+ years. I'm sure if the table was turned, I would be able to stomp the interviewer on some esoteric bit of JS.
• The handbook states that only the hiring manager can decline a candidate. So, that means that my peer, based on one "gotcha" code example, was able to convince the hiring manager not to continue the interview process without talking with me.
• When I finished the coding exercise, I asked if there was any concern that I didn't know how to create a LinkedList off the top of my head and was told that it wasn't an issue and was only used across the company with all engineers as a measuring stick to see where everyone was at.
• The handbook stated that data structures would only be asked if that was something I would be doing on the job.

I don't like "gotcha" interviews because they don't accurately show your skillset but rather your ability to actually get lucky and remember that extremely unique bit of code. In the end, you either hired someone who can memorize code just for an interview or someone who got lucky.

Create a LinkedList in JS