The HR team member I spoke with and who coordinated the process was really warm and fantastic. It was very clear that his goal was to build a strong team with passionate and diverse people, and I really enjoyed my initial screening with him. He really emphasized that Spotify is an environment where teamwork is critical and diverse backgrounds with a common passion really unite. Unfortunately, the second round interview that I had completely contradicted this message. The second round is a “technical” interview with another user researcher (on the team) and it was an experience that really soured my opinion of what I imagined the team at Spotify to be like. She was incredibly cold and rude- interrupting aggressively and often, and at times, even combative and competitive. I truly left that interview feeling disrespected and quite honestly in shock in a way that, after years in the industry, I’ve never been before. While the initial screening call emphasized the importance of teamwork and collaboration, this call with an actual team member completely disproved that.