Lyft Software Engineer Interview Experience: A transactional recruiter screen

The recruiter screen set a rough tone immediately. I came in for a backend engineering role, but the conversation felt overly transactional, as though boxes were being checked instead of discussing the technical impact I had delivered.

I shared concrete examples from past work, including architecture decisions, optimizations, and engineering scenarios. I expected the conversation to connect those examples to a backend role. Instead, the recruiter moved past the details and focused on rigid, generic checklist questions. The call ended with a dismissive comment about the huge number of candidates to shortlist, making it feel more like sorting than assessing.

I never felt that my background was being evaluated. The technical conversation did not get traction because the process already seemed to have decided what it wanted to find.

Location: Canada. Overall feedback: Negative. Offer status: no offer.