I walked away from a $250,000 interview

Interviews go both ways

If you’re applying to any company then you’re likely interested in them. But the company also has to be interesting to you as well.

Whether you’re interested in the work, culture, or compensation, everyone has standards for where they work.

Here’s a story about one that didn’t meet mine.

Application

I was looking for a new role beyond Microsoft and applied to Affirm as a software engineer. A recruiter quickly responded to my application and started the interview process.

I was prepared for the standard interviewing experience which included coding problems, behavioral questions, or system design. But when the first phone screen was scheduled, I realized this wasn’t the company for me.

Phone Screen

When I had my phone interview, the interviewer was quick to jump straight into the coding question. I wasn’t surprised to start writing code but I did find the question very coding intensive. I thought we could talk through it and share my thoughts but it seemed like the interviewer only cared if the code worked and nothing else.

30 minutes later the interviewer noticed I was stuck implementing the solution. As much as I’d like help, he tells…