The interview process started off well. The conversations with the business and product teams were normal, clear, and professional. They explained their goals, the challenges ahead, and what they expected from the role. The behavior and leadership tests were excelent. At that stage, everything felt straightforward and aligned with a healthy hiring process. The shift came during the technical interview. The technical lead immediately created an uncomfortable and unproductive dynamic. Instead of having a real discussion about approaches, trade-offs, or system design, he treated the conversation as a test of whether I could guess the one answer he personally believed was correct. Every solution I presented (including methods used successfully by large, mature companies) was rejected without any technical reasoning. It wasn’t an evaluation of engineering thinking, it was an ego exercise. When I asked him directly what he thought was wrong with the alternatives, he couldn’t explain it. There was no technical depth behind the pushback, only stubbornness. It became clear that the behaviour wasn’t about standards or quality but about needing to “win” the discussion. What made the situation even more striking was the salary range they are offering for this role. They are paying top-tier money for problems that are actually simple and widely solved in the industry. The mismatch suggests that the company’s engineering leadership has likely paralysed their growth. If basic issues require high-cost hiring just to move forward, it points to deeper problems in decision-making, architecture, and technical direction. From this interview alone, it was obvious that the engineering leadership is not competent and is significantly overvalued inside the company. While the business and product teams seemed reasonable, the technical interaction revealed a culture where ego outweighs skill, collaboration, and real problem-solving. I wanted to give it a try and not pay attention to the glassdoor reviews, but after this experience I am not shocked with the public feedback.