Plaid Software Engineer interview experience

The recruiter and manager conversation felt great, but the technical assessment left me uneasy. It was run by someone who seemed more junior, and there was a second person shadowing, and both stayed silent for essentially the entire hour. I understood that they wanted to see how I worked independently, but having two silent people watching made it feel awkward and passive, almost like they weren’t valuing collaboration the way they said they did. I didn’t get an offer, and the vibe of that assessment stuck with me.