How do you handle rude interviewers during a coding screen?

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Fidodo@reddit

I wouldn't handle it, I would reject them. An interview goes two ways. These aren't interviewers who you deal with once, they're your future coworkers. So I wouldn't want to be their coworker.

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Zulakki@reddit

Silence.

Honestly, ask the question, then wait. Dont Break! Make them uncomfortable.

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serious-catzor@reddit

I would ask about it or say something about it, while I am still in a good mood and before I get insecure or upset.

It kind of resolves on its own at that point... they will apologize or blame something else and I'll say something stupid and we laugh. Things like this used to bother me so much, real and imagined, and they just stopped being a problem once I decided not to entertain them and just be up front and open.

It's really hard to say what to say or how to act exactly but just feigning innocence, looking confused or playing stupid. And not in a fake way... you should be a little confused about why someone is snickering at you or being rude for no reason.

You should also make sure you are still open to being wrong. You might've misunderstood. That is much harder if you sat there listening to them mock you for a while first.

It doesn't really matter that it is an interview. I think it's a perfectly natural response to the situation.

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mpanase@reddit

Had a rude interviewer once, very unpleasant experience. Very well-known fintech as well: Monzo.

Once that happens:

- There is no way you'll pass the process. Not your fault, the interviewer's fault

- You might be dodging a bullet. Is people allowed to behave this way in this company?

- Do you best, but don't waste much of your time. The goal is not an offer anymore, it's just to avoid burning this bridge

- Rmemeber that HE failed, not you.

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ConfidentPilot1729@reddit

I have taken a job when the interviewers were pretty rude, it the shop I am currently at. My gut told me to not accept the position but needed a job. Now I am where I am at and am miserable. We have every thing from unprofessional behavior, know it alls at every level, and the icing on the cake a pretty bad code base. So ya, listen to your gut and you may just dodge that bullet.

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

Is it a well known fin tech company?

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ConfidentPilot1729@reddit

No it’s not

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ScrewedThePooch@reddit

Looks like you dodged a bullet.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/monzo-pulls-plug-us-operations-114017117.html

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contextwidow@reddit

I also had a very rude technical interviewer at Monzo! I was actually shocked, I’ve never been spoken to that way by anyone in any work context. I ultimately did not feed it back to them but should have. Interesting to hear this, you’re also not the only other experience I’ve heard from them.

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SolidDeveloper@reddit

I had an interviewer who kept asking how the data structures I used are implemented “under the hood” and I just told them I don’t know as I haven’t worked at that low a level since university 16 years ago. They didn’t like the answer and said they expect their staff engineers to be experts at programming from top to bottom. I said that this is the opposite of what a staff engineer usually does – i.e. the more senior you get the further away you go from low level code.

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

Thanks for mentioning not burning the bridge, definitely have a lot of connections there. Figured it’s better to just act like it’s all good, take the rejection in stride, and not mention the rudeness to the recruiter to avoid burning any bridges. Other people seem to disagree but I do understand not wanting to work there after this.

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NeonQuixote@reddit

I would argue that the recruiter should absolutely be informed of how you were treated during the interview. If nothing else, it will let the recruiter prepare future candidates, and honestly the interviewers should get called upon their lack of professionalism.

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mpanase@reddit

Sometimes the heart really wants you to vent, but this is still a job and the brain has somethign to say about it...

Another option is to withdraw from the process tellign them that you got a great offer or something of sorts.

Might be better than doing a half-assed job at the rest of the interview process.

In my case, I finished the process because there was nothing left that'd require a big time investment on my end. I just treated it as training for the next one.

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PM_Me_Your_Java_HW@reddit

I had a similar experience with JP Morgan Chase and told the hiring manager hey this isn't going to be a good fit. OP, just name drop the company so other devs can avoid them if they choose to.

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

It already has a shit reputation for interviews yet so may people still want to work there. If I name drop here it won’t change a thing, it’s considered too “good” of a company for many people to avoid cause of bad interviewers.

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theunixman@reddit

I hang up then tell the recruiter. Funny story, recently I had a company ask me to drive 90 minutes for a final round, so I arranged child care and drove down, and they opened with "You're not who we're looking for but we like to talk to people anyway" and then all failed to actually ask any questions.

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gerlstar@reddit

Wtf that is so insulting.

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nirvanist_x@reddit

to be honest I stopped wasting my time and I use A.I , no one respect real developer anymore , so why I should play it fair I use blind.codes , work perfectly invisible from screen sharing

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Which-Meat-3388@reddit

I would walk out and explain exactly why to their face. Then follow up with the recruiter. If they treat you like that in the interview it’s going to be worse on the job.

I always approach with genuine interest of what it’s like to work with the person. It’s a two way street no matter which side you are on. Hoping they are interviewing me as much as I am interviewing them.

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SpritaniumRELOADED@reddit

Man the interview is two ways. If someone can't pretend to be polite during the most professional and structured conversation you will ever have with them, imagine how it would be to actually work with these people. If I experienced this I would end the interview immediately

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Ace-O-Matic@reddit

Just withdraw the application and give the feedback to the hiring manager that the interviewers were immature and unprofessional, which as a result you don't believe this is going to be a good culture fit.

It's unlikely they'll pass you to the next round anyways and it's best to spend your time more wisely.

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Adorable-Fault-5116@reddit

This. Interviews are a two way street: you are also interviewing them, and they did not pass.

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TheOnceAndFutureDoug@reddit

People forget that. I mean yeah, after a point you just need a gig but if you have the option to walk away from shitty people you pretty much always should.

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hawkeye224@reddit

Yep. I got stuck with these type of people for a year before I changed jobs and it was terrible

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ryanstephendavis@reddit

Agreed, they don't wanna work there... That would be every day, 40ish hours a week

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Material_Suit6467@reddit

reminds me of the time i got grilled by a panel for asking about work-life balance

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TheOnceAndFutureDoug@reddit

In my experience companies know about these people, or at least the people who are putting them in the hiring process do. The fact that someone is seeing them in there means they either do not care how people behave (red flag) or they think it's OK (bigger red flag).

Regardless, as you say, just walk away and send an email following up saying, you cut the interview short with some details to explain why.

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0xPianist@reddit

👉

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jl2352@reddit

It’s the best answer, and the thing is their in house recruiter will want to know this and will be pissed.

They don’t want their time wasted, or themselves looking bad because people elsewhere can’t run an interview properly. That affects their career.

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martiantheory@reddit

100000% this

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igharios@reddit

This + feedback to HR, and if HR isn't part of the interview process, well double run away

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corpboy@reddit

This is the best answer. Saves your time and burns them also

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Fun_Atmosphere2500@reddit

did you report their behavior to hr?

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taserlick@reddit

name and shame, i say

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dmikalova-mwp@reddit

You're interviewing them as much as them you - just tell them based on their behavior you don't think it'll be worth your time to continue the interview and end the call or get up and leave. Let the recruiter know what happened and move on.

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FerengiAreBetter@reddit

I wouldn’t work for a company that laughs at me during an interview. Unless it’s something funny a typed and we laugh together, they can fuck right off.

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tripsafe@reddit

Would you directly confront them and ask what they’re laughing at? I kind of dream of trying to call them out when I realise they’re being super rude and it’s not going to work out. I’m a non-confrontational person though so I don’t think I could do it

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Bitmush-@reddit

That gets easier as you get older.

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tripsafe@reddit

I hope so! I just need to remember as long as they’re being rude and I stay professional there isn’t anything wrong with confronting them

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Bitmush-@reddit

Exactly. Being rude is childish. Acting like a child when you're with an adult and you expect to get away with it is a power play. They believe entirely in the dynamics of the fiction that you are beneath them and they can peacock their contempt at each other and you with no consequence. Not today, son.

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FerengiAreBetter@reddit

Absolutely. Not enough people get checked in life for shitty behavior. If you do it in a professional manner, they look like fools and have no defensible response.

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throwawayyyy12984@reddit

Here’s why you don’t do this in the moment: it gives them a chance to get ahead of the narrative. They’ll report to the recruiter or hiring manager that you were unprofessional and you shouldn’t be hired. By the time they hear from you, the narrative is already locked in, and they’re going to get the benefit of the doubt. Playing it cool and sending the message later gives you the leverage to save reputational damage.

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Bitmush-@reddit

Tell them off like you were their manager and they’d played up in front of an important client. Measured, unruffled but sharp and resolute.

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Varrianda@reddit

I would, but that’s also who I am. I know a lot of people wouldn’t be comfortable doing that.

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DeterminedQuokka@reddit

Honestly, it’s not useful. I haven’t called out rudeness. But I have told people that they are wrong during interviews. It always works better to pretend they’re right.

The best example I have was asking someone what decimal library they were using for their finance app in JavaScript. They told me it was unnecessary. I asked how the handled 0,1+0.2. They responded poorly.

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vzq@reddit

"But I have told people that they are wrong during interviews. It always works better to pretend they’re right."

That's a truth. At an interview I had a guy severely misrepresenting crucial parts of pagerank with the pagerank paper printed out in front of us. I politely tried to clear up the misunderstanding, just as I would if I worked there, and he just dug in. Needless to say I was "not qualified" for the job.

At the time i was seriously upset by this, it was somewhat of a dream job for me. But then I found another job, one where actually getting the right answer together matters more than saving face in front of a manager. And I made my peace with it.

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InterestingCow9134@reddit

missing the context for that part

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Ubersmush@reddit

Seems to me like they were very unprofessional during the call. Worth naming the company honestly.

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sweating_teflon@reddit

"Well known fintech"

Considering the established reputation of the crypto shops... Just avoid them all

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That_Management_1411@reddit

naming them might burn bridges, i'd be cautious about that

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Foreign_Addition2844@reddit

Send an email to hiring manager, recruiter, HR, etc. If you can find an email for someone higher up like CTO, etc, make sure you include them as well and be as descriptive as possible. Maybe they will get fired over it

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SikhGamer@reddit

It's a great and easy red flag. Interviews are meant to be the best way to represent both parties.

That kind of behaviour is shit and easy to filter for.

I remember doing an interview for checkout.com a while back. Two engineers. Engineer 1 great. Engineer 2 kept trying to ask the gotcha questions and would make comments like "he doesn't know how to do thing".

No shit sherlock, I just told you I didn't. But I can find out and get back to you.

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OAKI-io@reddit

stay professional, don't match the energy, and treat it as signal. how someone behaves when they have power over you in a low-stakes context is a preview of how they'll behave when they have power over you in a real one. the interview is for you too.

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sweetno@reddit

I can only imagine this happen when you're completely not fitting their profile, so I'd just excuse myself and end the interview.

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kerrizor@reddit

I walk.

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Sunstorm84@reddit

This happened to me once and I stayed into the end of the interview anyway, but in hindsight I regret not ending the interview immediately. I did still call out the terrible unprofessionalism when I spoke with the recruiter afterwards.

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mondayfig@reddit

Report it. If I found out my engineers were unprofessional like this in an interview, that would be formal disciplinary action.

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

External recruiter did not care and they were the hiring managers for the role. There was no one else involved.

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serial_crusher@reddit

Obviously I’m keeping it pushing

Maybe I'm misreading, but this sounds like the opposite of the solution that's obvious to me. Are you saying you're continuing with the interview process?

You're interviewing the company as much as they're interviewing you, and they showed a big red flag here. If you do continue the process and get hired, you'll likely be unhappy working in this culture. With a big company, there's a high chance the people you interview with won't be working with you day to day, but they are ambassadors for the company's culture, so it's likely the people you do work with will have similar attitudes.

I'd contact the recruiter and politely state an intention not to move forward with the process, citing this as the reason. Wish them well and walk away. Maybe they'll decide those particular interviewers were poorly representing the company, and fix the issue for future candidates, or maybe they'll shrug your email off and keep doing what they're doing. Neither of those possibilities should concern you though.

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

Nah I got rejected basically immediately, I’m keeping it pushing in the job search in general. But I would’ve put up with their attitudes because I wouldn’t have been working with them in the role.

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Commercial_Moment546@reddit

Was the giggling one AI (actually ind) ?

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

Not at all, most interviews I would call “troubled”I have been with interviewers in Western Europe, especially when they are in London but not British, it feels like a superiority complex over US devs or maybe they are mad at having to live in cloudy London instead of the Greek island they are from. Or they are mad they aren’t making US salaries.

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PseudoCalamari@reddit

Name and shame? Thats unacceptable.

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

Cant unfortunately it was too niche of an interview and I have tons of connections there, but some others named and shamed similar companies here 😜

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PriorApproval@reddit

you don’t?

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octatone@reddit

Interviews are a two way street, you are also interviewing them. It’s why we always leave time for candidate questions at the end of our interviews. You don’t want to work with these people and you should let your hiring contact know you are withdrawing and why. Their hiring/hr will likely be mortified by their behavior, it is hard enough finding good candidates, you don’t want that pool shrunken because the folks running the interviews are giving the company a bad name.

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aidencoder@reddit

Name and shame them

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YogurtclosetKey1308@reddit

i'd just finish the interview and then never look back. life's too short for that drama

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SquiffSquiff@reddit

Put it another way. Do you honestly think that you will have passed that interview? If that's how they're behaving I would just say' I'm sorry this is obviously not working out' and wrap up there and then

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biosc1@reddit

Yah, I have quite interviews early. Sometimes you just don't click or you can tell you aren't going to like the workplace.

Granted, I wasn't desperate for a job, so I had the ability to pick and choose what I wanted.

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DirtzMaGertz@reddit

I walked out in the middle of in person interview before because I thought the guy was being a dick. Just stood up and left.

Like you mentioned though, I already had a job when I did that interview.

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DeterminedQuokka@reddit

I mean I would continue to be professional and polite then tell hr I was no longer interested.

I had this happen at Bloomberg, was it them?

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

Thank you for the advice, all I can say is lol

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Flagtailblue@reddit

Wait a few weeks, create a burner account, post the company name and one of the interviewer’s names on this sub. Give the lowlights of the interview. Give JD summary to. Say how u dodged a bullet and warn ppl about doing business with this company. Delete burner account.

Next time, and there will be a next time, take a snapshot of the interviewer and post it.

Future scrapers will be able to take advantage of this data.

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Patient-Layer8585@reddit

Just ask them what's so funny then leave the interview

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Scottz0rz@reddit

I always give interview feedback in a thank you email to the recruiter, good or bad. If they were an asshat or if the question was dumb, I say so. If they were nice, I say so.

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TheTacoInquisition@reddit

Complain to the hiring manager or whoever is handling the recruitement process. They may be fully aware and not care, or they may not know that those interviewers are incompetent asses. If it's the latter, you'll at least hopefully get them kicked out of the interviewer pool, and if it's the former, then you've not lost a lot.

I would generally use that moment as a red flag, keep going to gather some solid examples, and then make a complaint against the interviewers after we've finished. People forget that interviews work BOTH ways. If the company is OK sending idiots into the interviewing process, then they should be prepared on only being able to hire idiots.

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dbnoisemaker@reddit

Waste as much of their time as possible, then chide them for being rude a*holes.

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chikamakaleyley@reddit

for me, whatever it is, i just try to keep the train on the tracks - they could be laughing for whatever reason (still not okay, like pay attention) - it's as simple as a little callout -

"Sorry, did I say something funny?"

They immediately realize that you saw them
They are on the defensive now, cuz they feel compelled to explain what was funny
if there's 3 people e.g. - 1 mgr - 2 devs and the devs are the ones joking - no doubt they get in trouble for the shenans

Ultimately, i'm not really looking for an explanation, i just need you to quit dickin' around

you can tell the recruiter in an immediate follow up the behavior that you felt was rude, but it has to be immediately after

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chikamakaleyley@reddit

whether its the 3rd bullet or in the feedback after - they get reprimanded at some level because they're supposed to be representing their company values, right?

You don't have to be passive if you don't feel respected. The interview goes both ways

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chikamakaleyley@reddit

like imagine CRUSHING that technical after you callout, you getting made a great offer, and then first day of work they are on the same team as you

They've already been warned

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psyyduck@reddit

Easy. ctrl + Q

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TurnUp0rTransfer@reddit

That was definitely unprofessional of them. Tech interviews are already all over the place these days with the high bar and many rounds of interviews that they want us to jump through, there’s no need for them to demean us as well. Mention it to HR and also keep in mind that an interview goes both ways as well in that your interview experience reflects the company culture. If that’s how they’re treating you as a candidate, I don’t even want to know what it’s like to work alongside them

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SnooTangerines4655@reddit

Once an interviewer grilled me on some network protocol although it was a coding round and we were done with the coding problems. He gave me a lecture for almost half an hour on that same protocol, I just wanted to hang up on him but didn't.

I did send out a detailed review to the recruiter though who seemed embarassed.

Companies should select the interview panel carefully and give them enough training, politeness is the baseline.

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Natural_Tea484@reddit

What companies is it? Name and shame

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BigBusinessBureau@reddit (OP)

Have too many connections to it and don’t want to burn the bridge. This was for a niche role adjacent to the company.

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wtfleming@reddit

Interviews like this are the sole reason I have a Glassdoor account. At some point you just have to end it early, let a recruiter and hiring manager know why, and leave a review about the process.

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boboshoes@reddit

Finish it out. They are giving you free practice. Say thanks and move on.

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PicklesAndCoorslight@reddit

I would walk away. I don't work to work with a bunch of highschoolers.

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Heavy-Focus-1964@reddit

i had this happen at clutch.ca, and i stuck it out because i really wanted to work there. most unprofessional and humiliating interview experience of my life

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Material_Policy6327@reddit

I would just leave the call and say “this clearly isn’t the role for me”. It’s a clear insight into their culture if they act like that during an interview

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Such_Nectarine3478@reddit

I would end the interview. See it as foreboding to what working there will be like. If they can't even put on a mask towards outsiders imagine what a political circus it's gotta be to work in there, like middle school again.

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GongtingLover@reddit

Nothing wrong with stopping an interview early.

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razzledazzled@reddit

How to interview potential candidates is a skill that doesn’t get practiced often by line engineers. I have no problem ending a call as soon as I feel it’s no longer mutually beneficial. Just as neutral as possible thanks but no thanks and end it. Then, depending on how mad I am, be as scathing as I can while still remaining professional in language while giving feedback to either the hiring manager or recruiter.

I’ve only had to do that once though, most people put on interview panels I’ve been a part of have some modicum of social skills

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