The interview process focused heavily on writing basic code in Notepad and explaining textbook concepts such as inheritance, rather than discussing how architectures actually work in real production systems. Architecture is about system thinking, scalability, trade-offs, and real-world problem solving—not manually typing code without context.
For a senior engineering role, the process felt outdated and misaligned with modern expectations. There was little emphasis on system design, architectural decision-making, or practical experience building and operating software at scale. Overall, the interview resembled junior-level screening rather than an evaluation of senior engineering capability.
Advice to Management:
If you are hiring senior engineers, consider structuring interviews around architecture discussions, real-world design problems, and ownership scenarios instead of basic coding exercises in Notepad.
Would Recommend?
No — not for senior roles.