I recently interviewed for a Principal Engineer role at Atlassian, and unfortunately, my experience was quite disappointing. The process consisted of two coding design questions—one on a rate limiter and another on data structures for a voting system. I applied Test-Driven Development (TDD) and delivered fully working solutions with passing tests. However, despite meeting these criteria, I was still rejected. One major issue was the interviewer’s approach to evaluating my work. They nitpicked minor details, particularly around code style and language-specific conventions, even though they admitted they were not familiar with Go (which I used). Additionally, while they stated it was acceptable to use Google if needed, I was penalized in the feedback for doing so—despite only using it once throughout the process. They also emphasized the need to build a "real-world" solution, but in reality, the interview felt like a standard algorithmic test with rigid expectations. I was even marked down for initially starting my solution one way, realizing an issue, and then correcting it—despite ultimately delivering a correct and functional implementation. This gave me the impression that there was no room for iteration or learning during the assessment, which contradicts real-world engineering practices. Overall, the bar for passing seemed excessively strict, with even minor missteps being grounds for rejection. If you are considering applying, be prepared to invest a significant amount of time preparing, and understand that the process may not fairly assess your true engineering capabilities. My advice? Save your time and apply to companies that take a more balanced and realistic approach to evaluating experienced engineers. Would not recommend.