The interview process was extremely unstructured and poorly managed. I was initially told there would be 4 rounds, which I completed. After that, I was asked to visit the office for “one final round,” which turned into 3 additional rounds on-site. In total, I spent around 7+ hours interviewing. Despite these red flags, I continued because the company appeared to be in a growth phase, and I was willing to consider the role even at ~20% lower compensation than my current salary. What was more concerning was the lack of clarity even at the recruiter level. When I asked if I should prepare data structures, I was told “yes,” followed by a comment about them using MySQL, which clearly shows confusion between data structures and databases. This raised serious concerns about how well the process and expectations are actually defined internally. Finally, after clearing all rounds, I was informed that they would not proceed because they found someone willing to join at significantly lower pay (almost half). This clearly indicates that the hiring decision was driven more by cost than by experience or capability. Advice to Management: If you want senior talent, you have to pay for it. If you want the cheapest labor possible, don't waste 7 hours of a senior professional's time.