Cruise Software Engineer interview experience

The hiring manager spent an hour grilling me, and the conversation centered heavily on negatives. The whole dynamic made it feel like my time was being used to test how I responded under pressure rather than to explore my fit.

Even though it was unpleasant, it did give clear signals about the working environment the team might have. Technically I was still expected to participate, but the tone was what dominated the experience.

I didn’t get an offer, and I came away with a pretty strong impression that this team wasn’t a healthy match for how I like to collaborate day to day.