Spacex Software Engineer interview: a surprise half-day panel

I started with HR, then met a hiring manager and a technical team member before what was described as an onsite. By the time I reached the panel, the process had grown into a full half-day onsite interview.

What caught me off guard was the framing. It had been sold as a simple, quick chat, but it was really a technical interview. After I answered, they pushed back with follow-up questions that seemed designed to see whether I would second-guess myself and whether my reasoning would hold up.

In the last part of the process, I gave a few slides about a project I liked in a hiring-manager technical round, then had another technical conversation on fundamentals. The onsite finished with more on-site technical evaluation. I did not receive an offer. It was professionally run, but sharper and much less like a relaxed chat than the original framing suggested.

Location: Bastrop, TX. Overall feedback: negative. Offer status: no offer.