I applied through a recruiter. I scheduled my interview in late September 2026 with a technical sourcer and completed my first technical interview on October 7, 2026.

I was being considered for a mid-level iOS Engineer role, so I didn't expect the technical assessment to demand what felt like senior-level experience or expectations. The assessment involved building an iOS app with a timer-based feature. I completed the assignment, although there were certainly areas I would have refined further before shipping a production-ready application. Still, I felt confident that I had demonstrated the skills necessary to move forward. Overall, I was satisfied with how the interview went. I felt I had followed the requirements, implemented the requested functionality to closely match the interviewer's demonstration, applied appropriate architectural patterns and best practices, and explained my thought process and code as I worked. I also incorporated some more advanced Swift macros where appropriate. For a mid-level position, I believed the ability to deliver a functioning solution, communicate technical decisions, and recognize opportunities for improvement should carry significant weight.

Unfortunately, that confidence was short-lived. By Friday, I had received a rejection email. I was left wondering what went wrong, especially since I had completed the assessment and addressed the stated requirements. I understand that interviews involve subjective evaluations and that there may have been criteria I wasn't aware of, but the decision was still disappointing given how well I felt the interview had gone.

One aspect that left me questioning the experience was the lack of diversity among the two engineers who interviewed me. I can't definitively say that bias influenced the decision, and I recognize that my impression may not reflect the full picture. However, the experience left me wondering whether unconscious bias or cultural fit played a role in how my candidacy was evaluated. I have progressed through interview processes with more diverse engineering teams in the past, which made this outcome particularly difficult to reconcile with my own assessment of my performance.

Ultimately, I left the process feeling that I may not have fit the profile Robinhood was looking for, despite successfully completing the technical exercise. For now, I don't plan to pursue future opportunities with the company. I respect that hiring decisions are multifaceted, but candidates deserve a process in which expectations are clear, assessments align with the level of the role, and technical ability is evaluated fairly and consistently.