First round with a senior engineer. It was a pretty good conversation. General questions around Python, SQL, Git, CI/CD. He even asked me to relax a bit, since I seemed stressed to him (tbh, I was just tired, but kudos for compassion). Then there was a technical+managerial round (which they call an apex round) with the principal architect who supposedly leads MLOps. This was one of my worst (if not the worst) interview experiences ever. The dude kept phrasing his questions like "since you uttered x, explain me y", extra emphasis on the word 'utter'. Almost sounded like an interrogator in the skin of an interviewer. Even worse, he kept interrupting me throughout the interview, which was really distracting. Interviews are usually high pressure affairs, and the onus is on interviewers to put the candidate at ease. Interrupting them continuously will stress them out and make them lose focus. In all fairness, the questions were hard, and I probably wouldn't have cleared the round, but the attitude of this person ensured that I couldn't give my best. Another annoying thing was that he kept his video off, but asked me to turn mine on. It feels really jarring to talk to a blank screen, especially if my own video is on. My interactions with the HR, and the first interviewer were really nice, but that's all there was to it. All in all, seems like I dodged a bullet here. Had I cleared all the rounds, accepted the offer, and then reported to this guy, I probably would've quit in a month anyway. Seems like interviewers in later stages of the process need a 101 class in how to conduct an interview. I say this as someone who has been on both sides of technical interviews. I'm sure most folks there are amazing interviewers and are well-versed in what to do (and not to do) while conducting one, but a refresher wouldn't hurt anyone.
