My Worst Interviews and the Lesson They Taught Me
29 Mar 2025 #career #interviewIf you’ve been around long enough in tech, you know hiring is broken.
We all have horror interview stories. It’s a shared experience all the way from small companies trying to imitate FAANG processes and large companies with dozens of “phases” to go through.
I’m not the exception, so here are two of my horror stories and a lesson.
They wanted to test my IQ
Before the bubble of 2020, a recruiter from a staffing company reached out on LinkedIn.
The meeting had an awkward start. The recruiter refused to speak in our native language, but in English. I might understand that, since they worked with American clients.
But the horrific part came when she told me they were going to test my IQ to see if I was “smart enough” to work with them. At that moment the interview ended for me. Run, Forrest, run!
They wanted a screen-recording
I’ve been asked to solve take-home interview challenges more than once.
But this time, with another staffing company, I had an unusual interview challenge: not only did I have to solve a medium-size coding exercise, but also record my screen while explaining out loud my thought process, in no more than 2 hours, and send them a link.
I guess a poor soul had to watch my recording at 2x, if anyone ever watched it. My thought was to create a YouTube channel and solve it live. At least, it would count towards the watch time to monetize a YouTube account. Of course, I didn’t continue.
Probably I had more horror stories I can’t remember.
The lesson
Hiring is a two-way street: you’re evaluating them the same way they’re evaluating you.
The first meeting shows how they’re going to treat you as an employee. And if you notice red flags during the process, like unclear expectations and unrealistic demands, imagine what it would be like working there.
Always ask about the next steps, salary, and compensation in the first meeting.
When I was job hunting, my rule was to step away if they didn’t share salary details in the first meeting. Why waste months only to discover they’re offering half of your current salary?