I interviewed for a company that was (maybe still is?) the leader in industrial cameras. I was being vetted for a EE role by a bunch of non-EEs until I got to the one poor woman who was the only EE left in the company after they had gutted their in house development and switched to using fancy enclosures around SZ commodity cameras. I was asking probing questions and had her on the verge of tears during the interview. Glad I never got a call back from them.

Oh man, I feel bad for that poor woman. If she didn’t leave there must be other reasons why she’s trapped in such a terrible environment.

The psychological tax of seeing your team dissolve and not be replaced seems brutal.

Is that the same company that produces a lot of thermal cameras?

Shoulda called them out.

During an interview?

Yes. If you're ever talking to someone one on one and they're not paying attention find a way to address it.

It wasn't an interview but when I was first starting my engineering career I was in a little three-way meeting with my manager and the department director in a tiny break-out room presenting some automation I'd developed to save time provisioning DC infrastructure.

The director was not paying attention at all and was pecking at their iPad. iPads had just come out and every VP/director was carrying them around and chicken-pecking them during meetings.

I stopped presenting and said I would wait until they weren't busy anymore ;D Was a bit irritated as they were the entire reason we were in that room.. Luckily I had quite a bit more tenure than that director haha(and a lot of political cover).

Absolutely. It can be quite painful in the short term, but the long term benefits (both for you and that particular relationship) can be huge, especially if you're naturally averse to confrontation.

Remember that interviews are two-way.

If they’re already not paying attention, what’s left to lose?