I was initially contacted by the in-house HR Recruiter and then interviewed via Zoom by the "hiring manager." This interview went very well. The hiring manager said, "We're going to definitely advance you in the process. You seem like a good fit, and you will hear back from us." While this was said convincingly, I still had to follow up twice before hearing back two weeks later. Then, out of the blue, I was scheduled for an interview with six members of the team for three back-to-back, two-person interviews that took place over several hours on a weekday.

I researched all of my interviewers before speaking with them. It was a mix of people very new to my particular form of engineering and some who were more experienced than myself.

While the job description and the interviews with the hiring and recruiting managers implied this would be a design-based position (at least 50-75% of the time), all of the other people I spoke with presented it as a support position (90% of the time). I'm making up percentages here, but you get the meaning.

I am more than capable of providing support in my field, but this is not what I prepped for. All that being said, I felt like the process went well for me. I didn't have any major snafus. I gave my experience in detail and admitted what I had not done, detailing what I had very honestly. I was left with the impression that after seven conversations that day and two prior, I was likely to land the position.

This was not reality. After being told by the last interviewee (the most tenured at Netflix of all I spoke with) that I'd hear back in a day or two, I heard nothing. Over a full week later, I checked in, and a day or two after that, I was told I did not get the position—nine days after completing a run of nine conversations over the course of a month. After that level of time dedication and conversation, a company shouldn't ghost someone for nine days.

I should say, I have over 25 years in the workforce. I have interviewed and applied for far more positions than I can remember, so I never fully "got my hopes up" in spite of every signal that I should. I was even contacted on LinkedIn by one of the Netflix folks who were part of the process. But what if I wasn't so experienced? To be led along in this way really shows some flaws in the company and the way people are treated, which leaves me relieved that I didn't get the job.

I should also say that three of the six potential peers didn't have more than a year of experience each. One was about equal to my experience, one had far more years in a different form of engineering than mine, and one was very well-certified and experienced (more than myself on paper, at least). That being said, I was told this was a "team" decision.

I read fully through Netflix's culture memo and its mantra during the interview process. So, if you want a job there, I suggest you do the same. Many questions come up directly about it or are related to you existing within it in some abstract way. In that memo, it talks a lot about a circular process where one person doesn't independently make decisions.

I think this is fine on paper for some decisions made by hired employees, but in hiring meetings, it probably worked against me. I walk away feeling that if I had at least been given the opportunity to meet with the hiring manager for another round to address the notes of the staff, I could have made a better impression. Instead, I was analyzed by some staffers who really didn't have the work experience to make these kinds of decisions, and almost all of them were located on the other side of the country. The actual staff on my coast only accounted for two of the eight people I spoke with.

I still believe in Netflix as a fan of the work they do and generally believe in the culture memo they are very upfront about promoting. I feel I would have been a good fit there theoretically.

But in retrospect, there were red flags. Not getting callbacks and having to remind them every time for one. Almost every call or meeting with anyone at the company started late (either they are overworked or rude). There was also, from many, a reluctance to tell me much about their experience at the company and how they felt about it. It seems a bit insular there. The preaching of individuality sounded great from the outside in the memo, but in the small taste I had interviewing on the "inside," I'm not sure how it plays out in real life. To that point, another red flag is: aside from two of the people I spoke to, no one had been with the company more than three years, and at least three had been there less than one year themselves.

Just my two cents. I'm not stressing it because I know that if a company doesn't immediately want you, it's not worth it, as it wouldn't be the right fit anyway. Good luck to all at Netflix and to those who spoke with me.

Q: What would you do if you disagreed vehemently with a decision being made within your department?