> The material I've been sent to "prepare" with This is likely the most telling. Asking you to prepare in a specific way [1] is both a red flag and can reasona

> The material I've been sent to "prepare" with This is likely the most telling. Asking you to prepare in a specific way [1] is both a red flag and can reasonably be used to make assumptions about the job itself, if not the culture. Recently, after a positive technical phone interview, the followup call with the recruiter included strong encouragement that I study the specific (configuration management/deployment) tools they were using, prior to my in-person interview, as I had admitted I had no exposure to them, despite having used other ones. Shortly after that call, I e-mailed a rejection. The first problem I had was that such a request disrespects a candidate's time. Even between jobs (and even for a new grad before a first job), time isn't necessarily valueless. Viewed more cynically, they were trying to get me to start training up on their specific tool choices in advance of paying me. The second, more important problem, is that it implied a desire to hire for proficiency with specific tools rather than overall ability, something I personally consider an anti-pattern, especially for startups (and especially since I consider myself a generalist within my profession). I'd much rather hold out for a company that subscribes to some variant of "Hire for {Attitude, Fit, Talent, Ability}, Train for Skill". > Should I pull out now, or try and "prepare"? All that said, this is a false dichotomy. If the interview itself isn't a huge imposition, you could go without "preparing". See if you can steer the discussion and even whiteboarding to something that's relevant to you. If nothing else, it's a way to get in a real practice interview, something that can be surprisingly helpful if one hasn't been interviewing in years. You can always cut it short, too, if it looks like it's truly going to be a waste of everyone's time to continue. Look up in advance some polite ways of doing this. [1] as opposed to something along the lines of "please research what's important to you about us" which might seem insulting to have to say out loud but otherwise seems harmless, IMO