I was referred by a current employee, which was followed by a chat with the hiring manager for the role. They seemed really smart and were able to give thoughtful replies to my technical and nontechnical questions.

Then I had a "culture screen" with someone in recruiting. I expressed some concerns about the culture deck but indicated that I would still be interested in interviewing, given the good signal that I got from the hiring manager and the person who referred me.

The hiring manager got back to me a few days later with a rejection because of the concerns that I expressed in the culture screen.

I can't help but feel that Netflix is a bit of a cult. If you can't express honest concerns about Netflix's unique culture in a preliminary phone screen, especially given the employee feedback on here, then you pretty much need to be guzzling Kool-Aid to make it to the onsite.

I work at a different FAANG company currently, so there isn't a huge motivation for me to craft a fake persona to get a job offer that I don't desperately need. That said, I would have some concerns about the type of person Netflix is hiring if someone like me, with a strong resume and a personal referral, couldn't make it to the onsite because I asked some pointed questions.

What did you think about the culture deck?