NextEra Energy, Inc. interview questions

Initial phone screen with recruiter, followed by invite for on-site interview. Met with 3 different hiring managers. Conversations ranged from extremely casual to more formal, but with basic behavioral questions (a time you had to align different perspectives, a time when you disagreed with a boss, etc)

After an initial phone screening with a recruiter followed by a 45 minute virtual interview with the Senior Director of Engineering & Technology at Nextera Analytics, I was advanced to the final, in-person interview round. It was an inhumanely long 4-hour interview at which, after a short tour of the office, I was held in a windowless room for the remainder of the time. In 45 minute blocks, I met with one or two interviewers at a time, many of whom seemed disoriented and unprepared. Some clearly had not prepared any questions, and those that had seemed to ask them randomly, with no coherent plan or direction. I am confident that I answered all their questions clearly, drawing on my 7 years of engineering management experience and 13+ years in software engineering to paint a picture of my technical and managerial abilities. The following week, I received a short, dismissive note from the Senior Director saying they were passing even though I “did well overall”, but that he was “not in a position right now to take on a manager early in their management career.” This made no sense, as I had highlighted both on my resume and in the interviews that I had 7 years of prior engineering management experience. My only conclusion was that the Senior Director let agism taint his judgement, as I’m on the younger side of the average age of an engineering manager, having moved into management earlier than most in my career. The Senior Director had a number of other inconsistencies throughout my interview process, which makes me doubt his credibility. First, he told my recruiter that the position was hybrid with flexible working hours, later telling me directly that it was 5 days in-office with strict Eastern time working hours (even though the office I was applying at was on Central time). This seemed like a clear bait-and-switch tactic that should have been a red flag right away. Furthermore, he told the recruiter that he was flying in and would be physically present at my 4-hour interview. But when I showed up, I learned he was only joining via video call. When I asked the Senior Director how he evaluates the performance of his Engineering Managers, his response indicated that he doesn’t use any objective measurements and bases his performance reviews entirely on subjective input from peers on how they “think” the report is performing. This reliance on subjectivity clearly also applies to his evaluation of job applicants, allowing unchecked biases to influence key hiring decisions. When I asked the Senior Director to describe the company culture, he didn’t even seem to understand the question. When pressed, he didn’t seem to have a clue what his own team’s culture even was. As an example of culture, he told me that one of his employees is really into Samsung phones and always gets the newest one every few months. 🤨 To summarize, my interview experience with Nextera Analytics was grueling, disjointed, and tainted with apparent biases. The senior engineering leadership at Nextera Analytics struck me as inconsistent, unreliable, agist, and just generally unpleasant. If you have a chance to interview here for an engineering management position, I’d recommend proceeding with great caution or skipping and not wasting your time here. 👎