Is man kind? Turns out, not really. I was blown away when I visited the office. Such a beautiful, open space with lots of natural light. The people I met were cheerful and came across as genuinely nice. These were people whom I honestly wanted to work with. They affirmed every one of my beliefs that it is possible to work in the Bay Area for a company that cares about its employees and with people who care about more things in the world than just maximizing profits. The birds were singing that morning, the sky was blue, the breeze was gentle... A day later, I learned that I had been rejected for the position. Hmm...that was a bit unexpected, but fair enough. That's life. Lots of disappointments and then a few successes every so often. I can live with that. When I asked for feedback, though, I was surprised to learn that the reason for the rejection was a set of trivial points about non-issues. Let me demonstrate: if a question asks, "What is 2+2?" a human who is in control of his or her faculties would answer, "Four, professor. The answer is four." The comment I got back for that answer was that it "was an ordinary answer that didn't push the envelope." Folks, we're not designing the next servo controller for NASA here. Now this was a technical interview--not one of those lateral thinking interviews where you're asked hypotheticals and expected to think out of the box, so the actual question was about coding. Out of respect for the NDA that I signed, I won't share the actual question. Obviously, those weren't the real reasons for the rejection. The post-interview experience left a sour taste in my mouth. It left with me with the sense that Airbnb hires like a fraternity picks its members--based on who they like. It's awfully subjective and a waste of time and energy for applicants who might not know any better. Basically, if one person doesn't like you for whatever reason then he or she can veto your application. What a shame. It's experiences like this that turn idealists into cynics.