My Awkward Interview at Twitter

Every interview is different. Some are very formal and structured while others are very casual. Sometimes the questions can be challenging, and you can't find a good answer. In all of the interviews a that I have sat through, I have never had this happen. This is the story of my awkward interview moment at Twitter.

I applied for a data center manager role with Twitter a few months back. I had been managing the data center at Vanderbilt University as an assistant director, and I thought that this would be a good leap from a career perspective. It might also give us an opportunity to escape the Tennessee weather. Something in my resume caught their attention, and I successfully made it through the gauntlet of phone interviews to earn an in-person interview in San Francisco.

The Twitter team was great. The setup my flight and accommodations. They made it clear what to expect - a full day of train interview with a lunch in the middle, dress casual, expect challenging conversations. I thought the interviews were going great. Question, answer, question, answer, next, question, answer, question, answer... and then it happened.

You don't want this job. It was a casual, matter of fact statement. You don't want this job. I had never heard such a statement like that during an interview. Of course, I wanted the job. That's why I flew half way across the country. It threw me completely off. In fact, the rest of my interview train became a train wreck. I stewed on that statement for the rest of the day. I thought about it on the flight. It haunted me all night.

I went back to work the next day. I got back into my regular routine. A few days later, I found out that I was not selected for the role. Looking back, my interviewer was right. I did not want that job.