I applied for a Senior Software Engineer III role at FanDuel through their careers site in the third week of March. Within four days, I received a calendar invite from a recruiter for an initial screening call. During this conversation, we discussed my background, experience, motivation for applying to FanDuel, salary expectations, and a few scenario-based questions. Approximately two weeks later, I was invited to a one-hour interview with the hiring manager. This round focused primarily on behavioral questions related to my current role and past experience. The conversation went well, and I was also given the opportunity to ask questions about the team and the role. The following week, I received an invitation to schedule two additional rounds: a technical coding interview and a system design interview, each with two interviewers. The coding round went very well—the interviewers were highly interactive, provided helpful hints when needed, and created a supportive environment throughout the session. The next day, I attended the system design round with two architects, where I was asked to design a platform similar to Medium. In contrast to the coding round, this session felt much less interactive. The interviewers asked very few questions and remained largely silent, appearing to focus on their screens rather than engaging in discussion. This differed from the expectations set in the interview information provided earlier. Although I presented and explained my design thoroughly, it was difficult to gauge their feedback or level of interest during the session. The following week, I received a rejection email stating that my system design performance was rated lower compared to other candidates. Overall, while the process was smooth and professional in parts—particularly during the coding round—the system design interview felt less engaging and somewhat misaligned with the collaborative format that had been described, leaving me with a neutral to slightly negative impression.