The hiring process is unnecessarily long and frankly disrespectful. It starts with an HR interview that requires an in-office visit just to “evaluate fit.” Then you are given a technical assignment that takes several days of unpaid work, followed by a second interview to review it. After all of that, there is a third interview with the company owners, conducted as if you are being vetted to run the company as a CEO. All of this escalation happened simply because I asked for a salary slightly above €2,500 per month for a Tech Lead role. This level of scrutiny for such a modest compensation clearly signals a company that is extremely cost-driven and undervalues senior technical talent.