I had a 30-minute call with the recruiter, which was very pleasant and professional. The conversation was clear, well-structured, and gave me a good overview of the role and the company. The next stage was a one-hour coding challenge. I found this part quite challenging and frustrating. While it was positive that multiple programming languages were allowed, the restrictions around using modern productivity tools and even needing permission to search for information online made the exercise feel somewhat detached from real-world engineering practices. In a typical work environment, experienced engineers leverage documentation, search engines, and productivity tools to deliver efficient solutions. The constraints of the challenge and the code exercise itself, in my opinion, did not fully reflect how problems are solved in day-to-day engineering work. As a result, it felt less representative of an engineer’s true problem-solving ability and practical effectiveness.