> most engineers contemplate ideas, change their mind, ask clarifying questions
I don't disagree at all. I find it slightly funny that in my experience interviewing for FAANG and YC startups, the signs you mentioned would be seen as "red flags". And that's not just my assumption, when I asked for feedback on the interview, I have multiple times received feedback along the lines of "candidate showed hesitation and indecision with their choice of solution".
I work for a FAANG, have done interview training and numerous interviews. We are explicitly trained that candidates should be asking questions, second guess themselves etc.
Hotshot FAANG and YC startups don't want humans, they want zipheads[0].
[0] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ziphead
Yeah that is definitely something that is subject to the interviewers opinion and maybe company culture. To me, question asking is a great thing, though the candidate eventually needs to start solving.