Great company but a confused hiring manager.
I was reached out by a recruiter for a Staff Software Engineer Position for the BigData team. It was a great opportunity for me as it matches my profile, the company has a great culture and folks are really smart there. Unfortunately during the interview process, the recruiter left and the hiring manager was gone on leave and then there was a new recruiter and a new hiring manager which I never interacted until the very last.
Process -
1 technical screen (Coding round)
4 Onsite Interviews - 1 Coding, 2 System Designs, 1 Project Deep Dive & Behavioral
After a couple of days of finishing the interviews, I reached out to the new recruiter if they have any feedback. Fortunately, a new recruiter with whom I never talked earlier replied and shared the feedback, that team liked my profile but they won't be able to consider me for Staff Level instead Senior Level would be a better fit for my role. Lowballed!
I was surprised by this down leveling, but since I liked the company, I decided to go ahead and to know more about how the new role differs from the previous one. So, the recruiter has scheduled a call with the Hiring Manager to share more info on the new role. Up to this point I had never talked to the hiring manager before.
Now, here comes the interesting part, instead of sharing anything new about the new role, I was getting interviewed again. I thought the call was scheduled for me to ask questions but it went in another direction. Till the end of the call, I didn't get any information on the new role except it is some based python work, unfortunately, the hiring manager also doesn't have any more information on the new role, since he is also new to the system so I understood his situation and still decided to go ahead with it since the new role was also with the team whom I talked during the interviews.
Now, here comes the twist, after few hours I got a message from HR, that the hiring manager has decided to move ahead with other candidates. If the hiring manager is the only one going to make a final decision then why have those many rounds of interviews and waste everyone's precious time?
Till a day before, there was an offer for a Senior Software Position and I have to make a choice whether to accept it or not, and after the hiring manager interview, there is no offer. All I can conclude is that the hiring manager himself doesn't know what he wants and should have been come prepared for answering the questions.
Anyways I missed the great opportunity to work with some great folks, but it can't come at the cost of a confused hiring manager. I wish the first hiring manager would have been there and the situation would have been definitely different.
PS: I had selected 'No' for the question, 'did you get an offer' but I know there was an offer.
Good Luck!
