WARNING: This Interview is an Ego Battle, Not a Tech Assessment Everyone who is applying for this position, please make sure to read this. Otherwise, you'll probably spend the entire day wondering what just happened during your interview. Here is my complete experience: The overall process started well. The HR interaction was smooth, and I was given a take-home assignment that involved designing a workflow to extract data from a Wikipedia table and append it to Google Sheets using APIs. I spent a significant amount of time creating a detailed solution with error handling, retry logic, conditional flows, and API integration. I genuinely enjoyed working on it. The confusion started during the live coding interview: Your interview will be taken by a young peer—a guy who is your exact same age and in the exact same position. NOT a lead, NOT a manager. Because of this, the interview completely derails into a pathetic ego clash. A young interviewer who hasn't seen the industry or managed teams will subconsciously view you as competition, not a potential teammate. If you show even a fraction of superior intellect or solve the problem too fast, their fragile ego gets triggered. Let me be brutally honest: If your interview is taken by one of these young guys, you are 99% SURE TO FAIL just because of ego clashes, no matter how flawless your logic is. They aren't looking for the best developer; they are looking for someone who doesn't threaten their position or knowledge. The "Discussion" Trap (Group Anagrams): Instead of allowing me to think through the problem and write code, the interviewer kept interrupting my approach with continuous questions and discussions. He asked me a standard String question: "Group Anagrams". I clearly told him the time complexity and everything. I gave him the normal approach first, and then I even broke down the fully optimal time complexity approach. But guess what? He STILL rejected me! Why? Because the guy simply wouldn't let me write the damn code. Every time I tried to move forward with the implementation, the conversation shifted to explaining concepts or discussing different possibilities before I could even finish writing the solution. Because of these interruptions, I couldn't maintain my flow of thought. Rather than evaluating the completed solution and then discussing the approach, I was expected to constantly switch between coding and verbal explanations. It felt less like a coding interview and more like trying to defend incomplete code that I wasn't being given enough time to finish. This had a significant negative impact on my performance. Even when I understood the approach perfectly, I couldn't properly demonstrate my implementation skills because the interview never really allowed me to reach a complete solution. By the end of the interview, I was more confused than challenged, wondering whether I was actually being evaluated on my coding ability or on something entirely different. Final Warning: I'm sharing this experience so future candidates know what to expect and can mentally prepare for this interview style. Your experience may be different, but if you find yourself constantly being interrupted while coding, don't assume you've suddenly forgotten how to solve problems. Stay calm, explain your thought process clearly, and do your best to navigate the discussion.