"Top-grade" Interview

Posted by Kaysuhdila@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 31 comments

Anyone else experience this type of interview style before? I just had my final round with a startup in my area and the last interview was with the CEO. I couldn't get a read at all and it was almost like he was just roasting my resume and experience for an hour. They kept asking "why" questions every time I gave an answer to one of their behavioral questions over and over.

My friend told me that this type of interview style is a thing at the company he works at so I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this and if it's maybe a red flag for the company as a whole?

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ExperiencedDevs-ModTeam@reddit

Rule 6: No “I hate X types of interviews" Posts

This has been re-hashed over and over again. There is no interesting/new content coming out.

It might be OK to talk about the merits of an interview process, or compare what has been successful at your company, but if it ends up just turning into complaints your post might still be removed.

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No_Barnacles@reddit

I experienced this during an interview many years ago. The CTO was straight up combative, questioning each item on my resume intensely in a way that was really offputting. At one point he asked me what my manager would have said my biggest weakness was, I told him something my manager had just mentioned (I'm impatient and want the things I think should be fixed to happen too quickly), and he accused me of lying because that sounded like a "good thing." Idk babe, that's literally my worst trait so get fucked.

I indeed told him to get fucked (not in those words) and walked out of the interview. The recruiter called me and told me they really liked me and wanted me to redo that portion of the interview. I said no way -- if that CTO acts like that to people he barely knows how will he treat the engineers he works with daily?

It's so not for me.

(Company now defunct, unsurprisingly.)

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ashultz@reddit

Anyone who asks you "what is your greatest weakness" in any form is requesting a lie, so either they're checking to see if you understand social lying (which, to be fair, people do fail) or they're too dumb to understand they're asking for a lie even though if anyone asked them, they would lie.

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onefutui2e@reddit

I'm one of weirdo "cannot tell a lie" types so I try to pick a real one but either one that could be a strength in the right scenario or I try to highlight how I've worked to overcome them. Sometimes I also try to talk about how it has helped in some situations.

Something like "I can be at times too detail-oriented and miss the forest for the trees" (not word for word, of course) is a real weakness someone can have, but can be reframed. But saying that in a seed staged startup still trying to find product/market fit might be a death knell, so it helps to have a few ready.

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ashultz@reddit

Most people who aren't sociopaths use this method. It's something real about you, but it isn't "my greatest weakness is that I long ago realized that my bosses are often dumber than the people they manage and it demotivates me" or even "I always fall asleep in long meetings"

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overzealous_dentist@reddit

I've seen people use it to test growth mindset/self-awareness. Never seen a manager actively check if you can socially lie.

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burritowatcher@reddit

There are acceptable and unacceptable answers to that question, like any interview question. If what you answer is true but unacceptable then you fail. If it’s not true but acceptable then you pass. Never talk about explosive flatulence or bouts of depression or how you can’t resist a pretty face, even if one of those things is in fact your greatest weakness.

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overzealous_dentist@reddit

as a hiring manager hiring remotely, I would find a flatulence reference hysterical.

depression wouldn't enter into my concerns, half of everyone has it and it's not a legal disqualifier anyway

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No_Barnacles@reddit

And in all honesty, I have not gotten much feedback in my career on true weaknesses. 😂 Either because I don't have any (lol), or because most people are too timid to be candid.

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Kaysuhdila@reddit (OP)

this is how it felt for me too.

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nkondratyk93@reddit

nah, if a CEO spends an hour roasting your resume without actually listening, that's a culture flag not a technique. real topgrading has both sides engaged. what you're describing sounds more like hazing with extra steps.

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ramenAtMidnight@reddit

I think it’s because they care about how you think, not what you know. Could be a red flag for lots of people. I think it’s fair so that candidate can nope right out if that’s not a good fit.

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_hephaestus@reddit

This is common at small startups, usually drops off when it’s beyond 50 people. The COO ended up being that guy when I was hiring a few at that last company. His input was not useful, but he had to greenlight comp and had trust issues with engineering, so his stage was unavoidable.

Usually it’s not so much roasting so much as general socratic method/trying to make sure you haven’t just been bullshitting the other stages of the hiring process (because clearly the C*O is the only one who can do this), if it’s roasting and that’s the CEO’s mentality it goes without saying the company culture’s not good.

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luvsads@reddit

Sounds exactly like Anduril lmao COO doesn't trust engineers, gets to greenlight comp, and therefore ends up sending out lowball offers

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_hephaestus@reddit

Much smaller than Anduril, but C suite may have been inspired by their methods

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xamott@reddit

What is a behavioral question? Everyone on this sub says that but in my day we didn’t use that phrase.

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Kaysuhdila@reddit (OP)

“Tell me about a time when…” questions

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xamott@reddit

Thanks that’s very helpful. Seems like it’s a catch all for everything that isn’t an eng question

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kagato87@reddit

Startup culture is intense. This is a taste of things to come.

Rapid fire, challenging questions, pressure, stress. All for a "maybe" big payout in several years (or "no more funding kthxbai").

The CEO interviewing isn't unusual for startups at all that I've seen. Nor is the high pressure. Attacking like that is a bit much, and it's hard to say if that's a red flag about an ah boss, or if they're trying to prune out candidates that won't survive startup pace.

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VeryAmaze@reddit

I ran into something similar once. They then offered me an abysmally low comp package, I told them no.

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ShoePillow@reddit

Shoulda asked them why

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Wide-Pop6050@reddit

It's a two way street. You can leave if its this pointless and rude

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Natutouser@reddit

Hope you haven’t joined that company. This is The classic case where company is not interested in hiring, rather showing their superiority to the candidate

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GlobalCurry@reddit

I experienced this during an interview, it was really bizarre.

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United_Reaction35@reddit

Probably using the experience on the resume to spark engagement from you. Why, asks you to review and justify your choices and actions. Seems like a reasonable way to interview someone that you are not familiar with; and with minimal preparation.

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nrith@reddit

I had that once, after passing all the previous steps with flying colors. I didn’t get an offer. Wasted a lot of my time, but I dodged a bullet.

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justnecromancythings@reddit

I went through a similar interview with the VP of engineering at a news company that shares its name with a popular node library. It was slightly different as they were going through all the jobs on my resume asking questions about who my boss was, did I think they did a good job, why or why not, did I tell them this, if I didn't tell them why didn't I, etc. It was super uncomfortable for me. I can't say whether it was a red flag or not because I didn't get an offer.

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originalchronoguy@reddit

Oh my. Some of the answers.

Why questions serve many purposes;
-Evaluate your decision making process.
-Check your self-awareness/interest.
-Understand your depth of knowledge. To see if it was surface level or reactionary to an unforeseen problem

There are a lot of reasons for "Why" questions. This sure beats technical assessment/screening to get a measure of the candidate. The answers signal what type of person that person may be on the team.

Why did you take that approach? An answer like "I was told to do it that way or my lead provided the direction"

Those answers tells me a lot I need to know.

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