I interviewed for a Senior/Lead SDET position on the PlayStation publishing pipeline team. The interview consisted of a 1-hour technical session with two SDETs covering coding exercises and framework questions. Concerns: The interview spent approximately 75% of its time on basic coding puzzles with zero relevance to SDET work. These are textbook algorithm questions, not assessments of automation framework architecture, CI/CD integration, test strategy, or the leadership skills required for a Lead role. When we finally discussed my actual experience, There was minimal follow-up or deep technical discussion. The interviewers seemed more focused on checking boxes than understanding how my experience aligned with PlayStation's needs. For a Senior/Lead SDET role, I expected questions about: Framework architecture decisions and trade-offs Test strategy for complex publishing systems Handling flaky tests at scale Team leadership and mentoring approaches CI/CD pipeline optimization Instead, it felt like interviewing for a junior developer position. Bottom Line: The interview process doesn't match the seniority of the role. If you're applying for a Lead/Senior SDET position, be prepared for an interview that feels like a junior developer screening rather than a senior quality engineering assessment. I had high expectations for PlayStation's technical hiring process. Unfortunately, this experience fell short of evaluating what actually matters for automation leadership roles.