We often prepare for interviews by polishing our CVs, grinding LeetCode, and rehearsing answers to “What’s your biggest weakness?”
But we rarely ta...
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This list brings back some memories (and not the good kind 😅).
It is so easy to ignore these flags when you just really want the offer, but looking back, every time I ignored my gut feeling during an interview, I paid for it later.
We often forget that we are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing us. Thanks for validating that feeling!
Exactly this 🙂
You can often feel it already during the interview. I honestly think I’ve never been wrong about that. Whenever the interview felt off, the job later turned out to be off too. And when it felt “just okay,” the company usually was just okay as well 😄
Our gut feeling picks up more than we sometimes want to admit. And you’re so right - we’re interviewing them too. Thanks for sharing this!
I think "gut feeling" is just experience processing data faster than our conscious brain can keep up.
You spot the micro-signals, the tired eyes, the chaotic energy, long before you can explain why.
The "just okay" trap is the real danger though. It is easy to get stuck in mediocrity for years because there aren't any screaming red flags to scare you away. 😊
Yes, I totally agree. That’s probably the whole essence of intuition: experience processing signals faster than our conscious brain can explain them 🙂
And honestly, “just okay” isn’t always that bad 😄 Especially if the pay is good and the environment is stable. Not every job has to be a life mission - sometimes “good enough” is perfectly fine for a season.
Great point about the mediocrity trap though - that’s very real 🙂
A boring job with good pay can actually be a feature not a bug. 😊Especially if you have a lot going on outside of work.
The trick is just knowing when that season is over so you don't wake up 5 years later totally obsolete.🙂
Sylwia, what you describe doesn’t surprise me at all — and what’s striking is that your writing almost makes us wish you had even more examples to share… even though every single one of these experiences is awful.
I’ve definitely lived through similar situations — and honestly, who in tech hasn’t at some point?
I’ve had companies insist on an in-person first interview while I was ~700km away from Paris, others asking me to travel for on-site coding tests (including well-known companies) only to completely ghost afterward. One even made me wait an hour before the interview, then asked me to stay on site while they reviewed my code — which was apparently “perfect” — and still never followed up. When I finally chased them, they told me that no response meant my application wasn’t worth pursuing… only to call back two days later because their cheaper hire (someone I happened to know) wasn’t working out.
I’ve also been asked deeply inappropriate questions about my private life, religion, or sexual orientation. Experiences like these inevitably change how you approach interviews.
These days, I still listen to what companies propose — but I also set my own interview conditions and boundaries. If the process doesn’t respect my time or professionalism, I simply decline and move on. It has made the whole experience far healthier and much more balanced.
These really do sound like horror stories 😅 Sadly, way too many of us in tech have at least a few like that.
And honestly, putting a candidate through multiple stages, assignments, travel, time investment… and then giving zero feedback or ghosting? That should almost be punishable by law 😄 Basic respect for someone’s time should be the minimum standard.
Your story about traveling reminded me of something too. Years ago (pre-COVID), one company offering a remote job still had a recruitment step that required traveling to Kraków — about 700 km from where I lived. I didn’t go in the end because I had sent out many CVs and had around five other offers to choose from at the time.
The funny part? Their CEO suggested I should spend 30% of my future time there on technical writing because he saw potential in me. I laughed it off back then… and now here I am, writing on DEV all the time. So maybe he was onto something after all 😄
You know what? The visionary saw a unicorn in you. Looking back, he was right!
Horror stories about interviews just keep coming and each one seems way worse than the last.
I’ve been on both sides of the table: as an interviewee and as an interviewer. Honestly, I’m not even sure which role is more stressful.
Some people seem to think that being the interviewer means being “in charge.” I’ve always hated that mindset. An interview is not power, it’s a responsibility - a huge responsibility. You might change someone’s career trajectory in a good or absolutely worst way.
As an interviewer, I’ve even confronted colleagues in the past who treated candidates unfairly or wanted to reject them immediately for completely absurd reasons. That kind of behavior does real damage not just to candidates, but to the company’s culture and reputation.
Everyone should pause for a moment and imagine themselves in the candidate’s place. Interviews are vulnerable moments. Behind every CV is a real person who prepared, stressed, and showed up hoping for a fair chance.
Being an interviewer is far more complex than just asking questions. It requires empathy, professionalism, psychology and self-awareness.
Thank you for this comment — I really appreciate it. I relate a lot to what you wrote, because I’ve also been on the interviewer side many times.
I still get stressed before interviews, and to be honest, it’s not my favorite part of the job. It’s a big topic on its own. I completely agree with you about empathy and the weight of making decisions about candidates.
The hardest situations for me are when someone is “in between” — not a clear yes, not a clear no. Those cases can stay in your head for a while, because you know your decision affects a real person.
I have to give credit to my current company here — they take this seriously and are careful about who becomes an interviewer. Technical skill alone isn’t enough. Social skills and empathy matter a lot too, because interviewers are also a company’s showcase.
You’re absolutely right: behind every CV there’s a real human being 🙂
When I was starting out as a junior developer with zero experience, I interviewed at a startup. They liked me and saw potential, but due to my lack of experience they hesistated. However it sounded very likely they were going to offer me some kind of internship. They continued to dangle this potential role for months on end before ghosting me. I learned the hard way to not rely on a single recruitment process but always have multiple processes ongoing to hedge your bets and not get emotionally attached to one single job application.
Yes - that’s a lesson many of us learn the hard way. I also realized years ago that it’s healthier to never get too attached to the idea of one specific company or role.
So many things in recruitment are outside our control. A recruiter (not even necessarily a technical one!) might just be having a bad day, be under pressure, or simply decide the “vibe” isn’t right 😅
Keeping multiple processes going is honestly the safest and sanest approach. It protects both your time and your emotions.
Thanks for sharing your story - I’m sure many juniors will relate to this one 🙏
Some companies are searching for unicorns, which are known to be phantasy creatures, and non-existent in real life.
Exactly 😄
And it’s also a bit suspicious when a company has the same role open all the time. It makes you wonder what’s really going on - do people leave that quickly, or are they just eternally waiting for a “perfect” unicorn to appear?
“How much do you value work-life balance? (1–10)”
10, 5 for work, 5 for life. That’s why it’s called balance 🙂
I do have some bad memories about this topic too. Spotting red flags is important, but sometimes you NEED the job. If you have options, great, choose carefully. But often I have the feeling the industry treats interviews like shopping for a commodity.
Also, yes, interviews are a two-way street, but one side (the company’s) is often ~90% blurry. They ask for unicorn-level skills, proof you’ve slain a demon lord and you can do it again here and now, yet you can’t see their codebase, how they run sprints (if they do), or how things actually work. It’s like they come to your house, demand a five-course meal while recording and questioning you, and all you get to see of their restaurant is Google Maps reviews.
So yes, watch for red flags but just remember you’re usually seeing only about 10% of the real picture.
Exactly — that’s very true. Sometimes you do need the job, and the ability to be picky is a luxury.
I actually ended up in that startup I mentioned for exactly the same reason. I had been let go from my previous job during COVID and I really needed the money, so the red flags became much easier to ignore 😉
And I love your restaurant analogy — that’s honestly very accurate. Candidates are expected to show everything, while companies often reveal only a tiny fraction of the real picture.
O Girl, this hit home. 😭
Last year, I had an interview where the CTO joined 20 minutes late, no apology, and said: 'Yeah, I was playing FIFA. So, tell me about yourself.'
I should have walked out then. But I didn't. Joined the company. Worst 6 months of my life.
Now my rule: How they treat you in the interview is how they'll treat you on the job.
Thanks for writing this — hope it saves someone! 🙏"
Wow… that’s honestly impressive in the worst possible way 😅 Some CTOs really manage to set the bar below ground level. This one especially handed you a red flag on a silver platter.
And sadly, it’s a common trait of empathetic people to rationalize it - “maybe they had a bad day,” “maybe it’s not that bad.” We try to explain their behavior instead of trusting our first impression.
"Exactly this! 😅
I once ignored similar red flags from a CTO — told myself 'maybe he's just having an off day.'
3 months later, I was the reason for everyone's off days. 🥲
Lesson learned:
How they show up on day 1 is how they'll show up forever. There's no 'bad day' — just bad personality.
Your comment hit way too close to home! 🙌"
Hi Sylwia,
nothing to tell from my side, anything that would challenge what you wrote above :)
it was very interesting to read these, thanks.
I wonder, if the number of these bad samples increases when the job market diminishes?
Honestly, I have no idea - I haven’t been actively looking for a new job for a long time 🙂
But my feeling is that it’s less about the market and more about company culture. Good companies tend to stay respectful regardless of market conditions - and bad ones… well, stay bad too 😄
Hearing that an interviewer asked if someone was helping the candidate is shocking. It reminds us that an interview goes both ways: we are also checking if the company is a good place to work. I will definitely remember these tips when I look for jobs in the future
Exactly - interviews go both ways 🙂 Glad the post was helpful, and I hope your future interviews are with respectful, professional people.
One thing I learned after finishing my training as an application developer and then becoming unemployed in Germany is that it does not matter if you are the best of the best, even better than an academic. At the end of the day it is about formalities and sometimes about pretending that people are needed.
I mean, maybe I do not have much experience like people here, but I have also seen people who were really skilled but still became unemployed even though they did everything right. I think the problem lies mostly with HR. In my opinion this could change.
If a company needs someone, then give that person a chance. Humans are involved, is that really so hard? He or she would also work for little pay, but just give the person a chance.
I had a similar case. I had two interviews and everything was really perfect. I presented my task perfectly. The recruiter called me and said it was also perfect on the phone. He said he would get back to me because they still had to handle administrative matters.
It has been three weeks and I have not received a call back. I am still waiting.
I do not know, maybe I am thinking wrongly, maybe not. I checked about 600 job postings. Even for simple tasks they want academics. I do not want to start an argument, but I have also seen many job requirements that are absurd, as if someone had to build a rocket out of a sheet of paper.
I’m really sorry to hear that — and yes, unfortunately the market is quite difficult right now.
You’re not wrong that sometimes formal requirements and processes play a bigger role than actual skills, and that can be very frustrating. I really hope things move forward for you soon and that you find a company that focuses more on people and potential than just checkboxes.
I thank you. I wish more people with the same experience would share and post about it as well so that others understand there is no guarantee even when all the criteria are fulfilled. (=
Not exactly the same situation, but I once had to complete a technical exercise as part of a recruitment process. It was a small Java application, which I built myself from scratch.
They were very impressed with the result, but then asked me whether I had paid someone to write the tests because the project had 98% coverage with both unit and component tests, which, for me, is pretty standard practice.
At the time, I was still a junior engineer, and I remember feeling quite nervous and caught off guard. I didn’t even know how to respond. I had done everything myself, and I genuinely couldn’t understand why they found it so hard to believe.
After another three or four interviews, including one specifically to assess whether I was a “cultural fit,” they finally made me an offer.
By that point, I was honestly exhausted by what felt like unnecessary pretentiousness, so I decided to decline.
Wow, that really sounds rough 😅
And honestly, I don’t blame you at all for declining in the end. After that many rounds and being questioned like that, it’s completely understandable to feel exhausted.
Also, being surprised that someone writes good tests is… a very strange signal from a company 😄
Thank you so much, Richard - that really means a lot 🙂
And yes, absolutely - articles and comments are honestly one of the best sources of inspiration for writing. One good post can send you down a whole chain of ideas and reflections. That’s usually how it starts for me too.
I also read your post today about taking a step back from DEV for a while. I totally understand that decision - sometimes you just need to rebalance and focus elsewhere. But just so you know, we’ll be here waiting for you whenever you feel like coming back 🙂
I really appreciate your kind words, Sylwia. Your description of those long, drawn-out interview processes and companies not treating candidates with respect really resonated with me. It's like you're speaking directly from my own experiences. Thank you for sharing your story and validating what I've been through - it's nice to know I'm not alone.
I’m really glad it resonated with you - and yes, you’re definitely not alone in this.
Unfortunately, long processes and lack of respect happen more often than they should. But the good news is that there are also many truly professional, respectful companies out there.
I really hope your next experience is with one of those 🙂
"we are family"
Exactly 😄 And then the manager changes and suddenly you’re out of that “family” overnight.
Oh, I have one. Friends with no rules in a corporation.
A while ago I had a line of tech interviews at a large Czech corporation. An HR person arranged it via email, one phone call to confirm I exist. Nothing else. No context, no agenda, no vibe check — just a calendar invite dropped into the void.
It took about two online sessions, one guy after another asking stuff about coding. Fine. Then they invited me for an in-person interview.
Live coding. Questions. Design interview. The whole buffet.
At the end I got a tiny sliver of time for my own questions. So I asked: "What is this team actually about?"
Turns out — they're a group of friends, covered by a manager who is also their friend. A little corporate commune, if you will.
My first thought: What happens if they don't vibe with me? Do I get voted off the island?
It's been almost two years since that interview. Still waiting for any kind of verdict on this role (almost two years...).
Spoiler: I will not accept.
Wow, I’m honestly surprised something like that formed inside a big corporation 😄
And yes… joining a “friends club” like that sounds a bit scary. You really don’t want your job security to depend on whether you vibe with the group or not 😅
Yes. Some startup can have this setup, but established companies shall have solid HR workflow, not only buddy up style 🤠.
You made a good point, Sylwia. I have been there with bad interviews and good interviews for a position with an organization. I am always asking a good questions to the interviewers during the interview process to see if the position and the company is a fit for me :).
Good — I’m glad you do that, Ben! 🙂
It’s not just them interviewing us — we’re interviewing them too. Asking questions is one of the best ways to see if the role and the company are really a good fit.
That is so true! I remembered that I had a virtual interview with a director during the pandemic. The person was wearing pyjamas during the interview process. It was interesting to be diplomatic. hehehe :)
Haha 😄 Honestly, I might have considered joining the company just because of the pajamas — sounds like a very relaxed environment!
hahahah! you are funny :).
This hit home. One red flag I learned the hard way is when they can’t clearly explain the role or keep changing expectations in each round. I once went through 4 rounds and still didn’t know what I’d actually be building. I ignored that sign, joined, and it turned out exactly the same inside — constant confusion. Now I treat the interview process as a preview of the real job.
Exactly - that’s a huge red flag. If they can’t clearly explain the role during interviews, it usually means the role isn’t clear internally either.
Unless someone is totally fine with doing a landing page one day and Java backend the next 😄 then maybe it’s a feature, not a bug.
But yes - the interview process really is a preview of everyday life in the company.
Just withdrew from a process yesterday. I aligned with the company's values and liked the people I met, but holy moly the red flags were relentless.
The whole thing took five months.
Started with a take-home that I finished in days — then radio silence for months. After that I got passed between a handful of people with no central point of contact. One of the interviewers (their principal) seemed like he'd never conducted an interview before; dozens of moments left in complete awkward silence.
Despite all that, I made it to the final round and was told "green light, we'd love to work with you." Great!
Then: weeks of silence again. I reach out to HR (my second-last interview), get ghosted for a week. Finally get an informal offer — at a much lower salary than discussed. I ask to hop on a call before accepting.
On the call, she explains the delay: they had another candidate with the same first name and "everyone was confused which one was the good candidate." They had to meet multiple times to sort it out. She said she'd send the official offer letter Monday.
Monday: nothing.
Weeks go by: nothing.
I send a quick follow up check-in.
Over a week later: still nothing.
I withdrew. If that's them putting their best foot forward, I can't imagine what it's like actually working there 😅
Wow… that’s honestly a hardcore story 😅
And I have to say - you gave them a lot of chances. I think I would have tapped out at the moment they explained the delay with the “two candidates with the same first name” situation xDDDDD
At some point the red flags just become a parade. Good call stepping away - if the process already feels chaotic, it rarely gets better once you’re inside.
good for you! A company should not take their time and go silent with a candidate.
Really appreciate you sharing these — especially the technical ones. A messy hiring pipeline or a year-long loop usually signals deeper architectural and ownership issues inside the org. If they can’t coordinate interviews, coordinating cross-team releases or managing technical debt is probably even harder.
The security example hit me the most. Being defensive about vulnerabilities instead of discussing threat models, data exposure, or trade-offs is a serious red flag. Healthy teams treat security gaps as engineering problems to refine — not ego battles to win.
And the “surveillance mode” interviews miss the point entirely. Real-world engineering is about system design, debugging strategy, and reasoning under constraints — not memorizing syntax without docs.
Thanks for putting this out there. These conversations help us evaluate companies with the same rigor they evaluate us.
Thank you — I really appreciate this comment.
And yes, I agree with you. A messy hiring process often reflects deeper coordination or ownership issues inside the organization. Interviews are usually a small preview of how things work internally.
I also love what you wrote about security — exactly that. It should be a technical discussion about trade-offs and risks, not an ego fight. The best teams I’ve worked with treated vulnerabilities as shared engineering problems, not personal attacks.
And absolutely — real engineering is reasoning, designing, debugging, not memorizing syntax under surveillance 😄
Thanks for adding such a thoughtful perspective to the discussion 🙂
Really appreciate your thoughtful comment 🙌
I completely agree — when the hiring process feels messy, it’s usually not just an HR issue. It often signals deeper problems in ownership, communication, or technical alignment inside the team. Interviews are basically a small simulation of how engineering decisions are made internally.
Your point about security really resonated with me. It should be a discussion about trade-offs, threat models, and risk mitigation — not about proving who’s smarter. Strong teams treat vulnerabilities like shared system flaws to fix, not personal failures to defend.
And yes — real engineering is about reasoning through edge cases, designing resilient systems, debugging complex flows — not recalling syntax under pressure 😄
Thanks for sharing these real-world stories, Sylwia—they highlight common pitfalls in IT hiring like disorganized processes and poor respect for candidates' time. It's a solid reminder that interviews go both ways, and spotting these flags early can save a lot of hassle down the line.
Thank you 🙂 And yes — interviews definitely go both ways. It’s just as much about us evaluating them as the other way around.
Nice discussion idea! I don’t have horror stories as others, but I’ll add a couple of mine, maybe they’ll at least make someone smile 😃.
On-site interview 250 km from my home
I accepted an on-site interview about 250 km from where I live. When I was already halfway there, the recruiter called me to say that the manager had a sudden meeting with the CEO, so the interview was canceled. I was a bit angry, but I turned my car around on the highway and drove back home.
About 15 minutes later, the recruiter called again and said that the original manager couldn’t make it, but another manager was available. So I turned around again and finally arrived at the company’s HQ.
As if that wasn’t enough, they then made me wait another 45 minutes before the interview actually started.
Even though I eventually received an offer, I obviously declined it. 😄
Recruiter screening
This was for a remote position and was supposed to be a 30-minute online screening with a recruiter. During the first 20 minutes, the recruiter only talked about herself, how great she is, that she writes articles, has a podcast, and speaks at conferences.
After those 20 minutes, she casually mentioned that the position was no longer remote and asked if I would be willing to commute three times a week (about 400 km).
I politely thanked her and ended the screening within one minute. 😄
Hahaha - stories like these are exactly why I wrote this article 😄 On one hand I really feel for you, but on the other - what fantastic anecdotes you get to keep for years.
The first one is honestly pure recruitment circus! And I have to say, I also loved the second story. I don’t know how do you feel, but my experience is that the more someone talks about how amazing they are… the less they usually have to offer in the end 😄
Thanks for sharing!
You’re absolutely right, over the years, they’ve become nice anecdotes 😆
Thanks again for the great discussion idea! 🙂
I got invited to the company office in my city ( i'm from a village ) for technical interview.
When i went there, it was a live coding test on their system. I was asked to implement a feature for a SaaS app for payments using stripe connect. Companies would come attach or create their accounts, configure fees and fee payment options, as well as saas company will get their commission etc.
I was asked to impalement it all on the sublime text in Core PHP, no framework etc except stripe package on Xampp. I implemented, they asked to handle multiple use cases and i implemented that as well.
Then they asked me if i can use my own test stripe credentials as they couldn't give me one due to security concerns and i used mine. Imagine that haha. But i was desperate to get job as i got layed off and i had just become father of a cute baby girl so needed job.
Finished everything before anyone else ( who seemed to be doing the same test i believe in the room ), they tested it by using their own stripe accounts and stuff and i was asked to go back to HR.
On my way out, HR escorted me saying the CTO was impressed with my skills but he didn't like i switched 3 companies in my 8+ years of career. So it gave bad impression but they'll let me know if i got selected for next round.
Then nothing, i contacted and was told i was not selected but given the feedback i should try to go to a bigger city as my skills were impressive.
In the end i got a remote job with a very amazing and helpful team and doing fine now.
First of all - I’m really happy you eventually found a good remote team and a project that works for you 🙂 That’s the best ending to this story.
And wow… that recruitment process really sounds like pure absurdity. While reading, I was honestly just waiting for the plot twist where they connect your Stripe account straight to production 😂
Using your own credentials because they couldn’t provide test ones is wild. And after all that work, rejecting someone for changing three companies in eight years… that’s just crazy.
Anyway, looks like you ended up in a much better place - sometimes the weirdest interviews save us from the wrong companies 🙂
I got rejected once because I asked if having 6 week long sprints worked well for them :P
Oh and one time I got rejected because they asked me how I would handle Chinese characters or right to left text and I said I did not encounter that problem yet and that I would go to stackoverflow to find a good solution. They were also very much against using 3rd party packages, they wrote all their code themselves lol
Honestly, those are the best kinds of rejections 😄 At least you don’t have to suffer later working in a place like that.
The tech interview topic is a big one, everyone who’s been through recruitment could talk about it for ages 🙂
Reading about the Total Surveillance Mode part was really interesting to me. I did a technical assignment with exactly the same settings (camera on all the time, fully recorded). At first I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to do the task, it felt a bit creepy 🙂 Can you imagine someone actually sitting there later and watching all those long, probably boring recordings of developers writing code? 😅 Sounds like a weird task to have, honestly 🙂
Also, a small tip for coding tasks on online platforms, maybe someone finds it useful: be careful with accidental infinite loops (like not providing a dependency array in useEffect in a React app). An accidental infinite loop can freeze the browser and you might lose time or even the whole session. Happened to me once 😅
Hahaha maybe it’s not a human watching those recordings at all… maybe AI is analyzing them now 🤣 You’re not allowed to use AI, but the company totally can - sounds fair, right? 😄
And your tip about infinite loops is absolute gold! Seriously - that’s the kind of real-life advice nobody mentions until it happens to you once and you never forget it again 😅
Thanks for sharing this, I’m sure it will save someone’s nerves (and browser tab).
Thank you for sharing this, Sylwia! 🙌 This article really highlights something a lot of us don’t talk about enough — how a company’s interview process can reflect its culture and values. Interviews aren’t one‑way streets: while we prepare our best, they should also show respect for our time, dignity, and boundaries. 🚩
Your examples — from endless rounds and silence, to inappropriate questions and extreme surveillance — are not just “quirks,” they’re real warning signs that organizations might not value their people. Many of us have lived through similar experiences, whether it’s ghosting after multiple stages, unrealistic expectations, or blatant disrespect.
In my view, a healthy interview process should be clear, respectful, and transparent. When companies lack empathy or basic professionalism during hiring, it likely carries into the workplace too. 👀
Thanks again for initiating this conversation — it helps all of us recognise when to walk away and choose environments that truly respect us. 🚀 What’s one red flag you think is the most telling sign of a poor company culture?
Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment 🙂 I completely agree — interviews are often the first real glimpse into how a company treats people, and that’s why these signals matter so much.
If I had to pick one red flag that feels the most telling… it would probably be lack of respect for time. Endless delays, unclear communication, ghosting — these things usually reflect deeper organizational problems.
Because if a company can’t respect people’s time when they’re trying to impress candidates, it rarely gets better once you’re inside.
Companies routinely exploit candidates through take-home assignments.
They often assign work that directly overlaps with their current projects or upcoming client deliverables. Instead of evaluating problem-solving ability, these assignments become a mechanism to extract free labor.
This practice peaked during COVID, when hiring volumes were high and candidates were desperate. Many companies leveraged that imbalance to maximize unpaid output under the guise of assessment.
A legitimate take-home test is small, synthetic, and clearly disconnected from production. Anything else is a red flag.
this is the horror story of exploitation through take-away assignment
Incident 1:
During peak COVID (May–July 2020) I was transitioning into tech industry as front-end developer. After many rejections, I finally started getting interviews. One company gave me a complex take-home: a landing page with heavy animations and micro-interactions. I delivered, zipped the code, shared it. HR confirmed receipt, CC’d the manager, and the manager replied: “I’ll review and provide feedback soon.”
Then silence. HR stopped responding. Weeks later, I checked their website and saw the same landing page live as part of a client project. My code wasn’t complete, but it was clearly salvaged.
Incident 2:
Another company. Same pattern. Take-home assignment → shortlisted → interview → offer. They lowballed me ~60% below a fresher package and added a 1-year bond. I accepted out of desperation.
On day 1 standup, a teammate shared screen. He was using my take-home assignment code inside their production project.
I was terminated on day 3.
I’m honestly so sorry you went through this. That’s not just a red flag - that’s straight-up exploitation.
I’ve definitely seen similar patterns with take-home assignments. Sometimes they were presented as “just a small task, maybe three hours, one evening”… and then it turned out to be basically a full mini-application.
In my case, what often “saved” me was pure laziness 😅 If something looked too big, too vague, or suspiciously close to real production work, I simply didn’t feel like doing it. I was lucky to have that choice.
But what about people who are desperately looking for a job? That’s the hard part. When you really need an offer, it’s much harder to say no - and unfortunately some companies know that.
Thank you for sharing this. Stories like yours are important, even if they’re painful.
The "we're like a family here" line should be in a bingo card.
What I've learned: when a company says culture in every other sentence during interviews, it's usually because they don't have solid engineering practices to talk about. Strong engineering cultures don't need to say the word "culture" — you just see it in how they talk about their systems, their incidents, their decision-making process.
The one red flag I'd add from my own experience: when you ask "what does your on-call rotation look like?" and everyone goes quiet or gives a vague non-answer. That silence has cost me two job offers I should've walked away from.
Exactly 😄
And yes… I’ve seen many situations where people were suddenly removed from those “families” literally from one hour to the next. So the family metaphor tends to age badly in real life.
The security story is the one that got me. I've been in almost that exact situation — pointed out a pretty obvious auth bypass during a technical round, and the team got visibly uncomfortable. They kept insisting their approach was "fine for their use case." Didn't get the job, and honestly I'm glad.
But here's what I've started doing that's helped a lot: I always ask "what does a typical PR review look like here?" during interviews. The answer tells you SO much. If they stumble or say something vague like "we trust each other," that usually means nobody's reviewing anything seriously. And that maps directly to the security attitudes you described.
Also the surveillance coding test thing — I had one where they wanted me to disable my second monitor. Like what? I can't even look at my own notes? At that point you're not testing engineering ability, you're testing obedience.
I really like that question about PR reviews — I’m stealing it and will definitely start asking it too 😄
My own way of feeling how a company works is asking about processes. Whenever people start giving mixed answers or can’t clearly explain how things are organized, I immediately get worried it’s going to be startup-style chaos — nobody knows anything, nobody plans properly, and then everyone ends up working 12-hour days to compensate.
And yes… disabling a second monitor is just absurd. That’s not testing engineering, that’s testing compliance 😅
Have you ever survived a brutal recruitment/hiring process, only to be placed in a position for which you neither applied nor were qualified?
Can Imposter Syndrome be a form of PTSD?
Just saying…
That’s actually a really interesting question.
Sometimes I wonder if companies do this intentionally — or if it just happens as a side effect of long, exhausting processes. There’s definitely some psychology involved.
I remember a time when I simply wanted to change jobs because I wanted to move from office work to remote. I went through several recruitment processes and ended up with five offers. All companies agreed to my rate and conditions… except one. Of course — the one with the hardest and longest process.
And here’s the funny psychological effect: subconsciously, that was the company I wanted the most. The longest process, the most effort invested, the lowest salary — and yet it felt more “valuable” somehow.
In the end I didn’t go there because it would have made zero sense — but yes, there’s definitely something going on in our brains when a process becomes difficult or intense 🙂
This should be printed on a t-shirt. 🚩👕
I'd add: "If a company treats candidates like potential criminals during interviews, imagine how they treat employees during incident reviews."
The surveillance story reminds me of a friend who had to share their screen and keep their hands visible on camera during a coding test. For a WordPress theme job. In 2024.
Spoiler: they didn't get the job. But they did dodge a bullet.
Thanks for sharing these — validation that sometimes "being rejected" is actually "being rescued."
Hahaha what a story 😄
Yes, WordPress theme development is clearly a matter of national security - full transparency required, hands visible at all times! xDDDD
And I love that line: sometimes “being rejected” is actually “being rescued.” That’s exactly it. Some bullets politely remove themselves from your life.
Thanks for sharing this one - it perfectly proves the point 🚩
The point about interviews revealing company culture is underrated.
I’ve noticed that the biggest red flag isn’t a hard question or tough task — it’s how interviewers react when candidates ask their own questions. Curious teams become more interesting to talk to, while defensive reactions usually signal deeper issues.
Have you found that candidate questions often expose more about a company than the interview itself?
Yes — absolutely. I think candidate questions often reveal much more than the formal interview itself.
You can really see the difference between teams that are curious and open versus those that get defensive or uncomfortable. The reaction tells you a lot about communication style, ego levels, and how discussions probably look inside the company.
So I’d say asking questions is one of the best “diagnostic tools” we have 🙂
Yeah, those red flags expose a lot of what working in the company looks like.
💯
I got to know a alot of things from your post i just entered to tech world in my college would you give an advice to me ?
It’s hard to give just one piece of advice 🙂
But honestly — keep learning, stay curious, and read a lot of posts and discussions here on DEV. You’ll learn a ton not only about technology, but also about how the industry really works.
Some companies are searching for unicorns, which are known to be fantasy creatures and non-existent in real life..
Sylwia Laskowska thanks to share these histories. I need to keep these in mind because I usually felt nervous when I interviewed.
Thank you 🙂 And yes - we all get nervous during interviews, it’s completely normal. Sometimes it goes great, sometimes less so, and that’s just part of the process.