Screening call: The screening call was very relaxed. The recruiter was kind, professional, and explained everything clearly. Communication with them was smooth and effortless. Pair Programming Interview: This interview was conducted on Hackerrank, with two engineers observing. Despite being called "Pair Programming," it didn’t follow that format. The engineers were not very active or helpful, and I felt that I didn’t perform at the level they were expecting. Surprisingly, their feedback stated that I "did a fantastic job," which I found odd given the overall experience. System design Interview: This interview also involved two engineers supervising. Their questions about my previous experience were quite surface-level, and they seemed uninterested in exploring more advanced aspects of my background. For the system design portion, I was asked to extend their existing solution using a Hackerrank blackboard. The question itself was flawed, containing a logical gap with no explanation. I pointed out the issue and expressed hesitancy in proceeding without clarity on how the final result should function. However, the engineers were unable to address or understand the problem, so I had to continue despite the ambiguity. Communicating with them was challenging—it felt like talking through a waterfall, as though my words didn’t reach them. When I explained something, they would respond with objections like, “This won’t work because of X and Y,” prompting me to repeat my explanation verbatim. After that, they would finally consider it, and we simply moved on to the next part of the problem. Overall, I left the interview feeling extremely drained. If this experience reflects a typical workday at the company, I’m certain it’s not an environment where I’d want to work. A few days later, I received a polite rejection email. However, I had to follow up two times to request feedback, which stated that I struggled to explain my logic and needed prompts to arrive at a workable solution. Overall, I believe the interview process should be a two-way street. While I was ultimately rejected, I had already decided I wouldn’t continue with the process. I wasn’t willing to jump through more hoops for a team that didn’t come across as kind, helpful, or communicative. Instead, I’ve accepted a comparable offer from a company where I felt they were genuinely enthusiastic about working with me.