The first stage of the interview was a behavioral interview and focused mainly on behavioral questions around difficult management situations. They asked about a time I made a mistake as a manager, a time I had to put someone on a PIP, and a time I received difficult feedback. I answered with real examples and explained what I learned from those experiences. However, my impression was that they were expecting more polished answers rather than genuine examples of mistakes and growth. Based on discussions, the interviewers also seemed to prefer a more traditional management style, focused on difficult conversations and rigid communication and leading, rather than modern leadership approaches such as empathy, coaching, and servant leadership. Overall, I felt there was a mismatch between my leadership style and what they were looking for. They recommended me to apply for staff engineer role instead. Based on this interview and the software developer reviews on glassdoor regarding their engineering managers (i.e. micromanagement) I'd have recommended them the same.

1. Overall experience was OK - however, some feedback comment gave me the impression that they did not pay attention to my experience and the examples I have provided which adds value. 2. Technical experience is where I couldn't clarify how much I knew or can add value to when managing an engineering team. However, non-technical/softskills area is where I disagreed with the feedback I received. It almost appeared that they were asking one question and expecting a different answer. An example - they used the verb "Transpire" in a feedback - which is in my case, was a clear indication that they did not pay any attention to my answers. 3. My only comment/concern/feedback to them - please pay attention to what candidate has during interview, which wasn't consistently followed in every stages.