SREs are expected to do programming, so a coding interview was expected. However, the question was odd, challenging to test effectively, and it felt pretty obvious that the interviewer didn't want to be there. Recruiter was no-contact for over a week, then told me they were not moving forward.
I understand that interviewers can only rate candidates by the time they spend together, but there was nothing about that interview that helped me showcase anything that I can bring to the table -- which is programming, yes, but also much bigger picture leadership and technical direction.
Pretty frustrating.