The first interview round was advertised as a conversation with the Head of Engineering. Instead, an outsourced talent representative joined the call. Throughout the video interview, they appeared disengaged, yawning repeatedly and showing very low energy. The questions were one-sided and clearly non-technical, making it obvious this was a talent screening rather than an engineering discussion with a mix of tech questions which left me confused and created uncertainty around how much depth to go into with my answers. I found myself shifting to superficial responses and questioning whether it even made sense to continue the call, ask deeper questions, or challenge the setup. Overall, the interaction did not reflect the professionalism or curiosity I would expect from an engineering-driven company. During this first round, there was a strong sense that the company was “evaluating me” rather than a two-way conversation. No effort was made to explain why I should choose them as an employer, despite the compensation being lower than in my previous role. I didn’t reject the process outright, as I understand that talent teams can vary, and I hoped to move past this stage to speak directly with someone from engineering. After receiving the rejection email, I decided to leave this review so others in a similar position can request to speak with an engineering leader when discussing technical topics, features, or engineering management. This review is not written out of frustration with rejection :) , rejection is common in tech, but this particular experience left a negative impression. It may reflect the company’s engineering culture, or it may simply have been an unfortunate interaction with someone having a bad day. Either way, it’s worth noting.