Metropolis Interview Experience — Rejected After an HM Screen Filled In by a Senior Staff Engineer

A recruiter from a startup reached out to me on LinkedIn. I figured I'd learn a bit more about it, so I decided to take the interview.

The first round was an HM screen, done by a senior staff engineer. He said the team hadn't hired a manager yet, so he was standing in for that role. It was mostly about my projects and behavioral questions. Maybe we just didn't click, because I didn't pass. Here's a summary of what they asked:

• Give a quick self-introduction
• Why are you looking for a new job? What kind of opportunity/company are you looking for next?
• Are you currently in Seattle? Can you commit to being in the office 4 days a week?
• Give an example of a time you disagreed with a leader (manager, VP, CTO, any level) — describe how you handled it and what the outcome was.
• Pick a project that was technically challenging and required cross-team collaboration, then talk through it. They dug into my role, the scope, the size of the project, how long it took, and asked about technical details for a long time.
• They also specifically asked about AI experience:
  • Which AI dev tools have you used? Where have they worked well, and where have they been weak?
  • What's the company-wide AI usage policy (allowed/not allowed, which tools)? Have you integrated AI into your workflow?