I interviewed for a senior frontend-leaning full-stack position. The process began with a recruiter reaching out, followed by an initial video call. He was well-prepared and notably knowledgeable about the company—more so than many recruiters I’ve worked with. About a week or two later (the team had been out of office the week of our initial call), I met with the engineering manager. That conversation went well overall. He was relatively new to the company but already had strong, thoughtful opinions, which I appreciated. The interview felt more like a discussion than a formal evaluation. Roughly a week after that, I moved on to a live technical interview. The exercise involved building out functionality similar to their production application using React, Tailwind, and Next.js, all via screen sharing. I was able to complete the core requirements within the allotted time and implement a few additional features that came up during the session. A few days later, I was informed that they would not be moving me forward to the final system design round. Technical interviews aren’t my strongest setting, particularly given the time constraints and often opinionated nature of the tasks. The interviewer was professional and courteous, though somewhat difficult to read, which made it hard to gauge how I was performing in the moment. While I recognize there were areas where I could have done better, I’ve noticed a broader trend of companies expecting near-perfect execution in these scenarios. In my view, that format doesn’t always provide a complete or accurate picture of a candidate’s abilities. The recruiter followed up two days after the interview with the decision, but without specific feedback. I reached out to request more detail for my own growth, though I have not received a response. Overall, the company left a positive impression. The product and culture seemed compelling, and the interview process was generally smooth, albeit with longer gaps between stages than I would have preferred. I did have to follow up a few times to keep things progressing. Despite that, I would still recommend considering them if opportunities arise.