I recently interviewed for an iOS Engineer position, and unfortunately, the experience was quite negative from the very beginning. HR Screening: The initial HR call did not leave a good impression. When I asked basic questions about the upcoming interview process—such as how many rounds to expect or what types of interviews were included—the HR representative couldn’t provide clear answers. It felt unorganized and left me unsure of what to prepare for. Scheduling Issues: I was later invited to the technical round, originally scheduled for 1 hour. Shortly after, HR contacted me saying the interviewers wanted to extend it to 2 hours. I asked whether we could split it into two separate 1-hour sessions or reschedule to a day when I could accommodate the full 2 hours, but I was told there was no flexibility. They insisted on a 2-hour session that day, which felt inconsiderate of a candidate’s schedule. Despite asking again about the interview structure or content (e.g., whether it would involve coding, system design, etc.), the only answer I received was “technical interview,” with no meaningful detail. Technical Interview: The actual technical interview ended up being around 1.5 hours of deep iOS fundamentals Q&A followed by ~20 minutes of pair coding. The fundamentals portion felt unnecessarily intense, every time I answered a question, the interviewer would dive even deeper into edge cases. If I struggled, I was told things like, “I’m only asking because you said you know. If you don’t know, just say you don’t know.” But when I did say “I don’t know,” the response was often, “Try to guess. It’s basic.” This created a stressful and discouraging atmosphere. The tone felt less like an evaluation and more like an attempt to expose gaps for the sake of it. Instead of assessing skills fairly, it created a dynamic where I began doubting my own knowledge and experience. Summary: Overall, the process felt disorganized, inflexible, and unnecessarily stressful.