a second round interview with a company in November because of what I leared about hiring manager in round 1.

He had been with the company for a long time and was very set in his ways. Now he wants grunts who are as stuck in the past as he is. It's a fascinating combination of arrogance and obsolescence.

The pay would have been excellent. The role probably would have been fine too, but the manager raised enough red flags that I didn't want to take that chance. There's a further risk of ending up on team where my coworkers have the same mindset as the manager (or lacked the competence necessary to spot the red flags). Managers don't have to be brilliant to attract top level talent, but they can certainly scare it off.

Most of the managers I've interviewed with are merely mediocre talents who have lazily stuck around long enough to be promoted because of seniority.