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I spent 3 hours on their take-home coding challenge, built a full-stack app with tests, and presented it to 4 engineers. Got no response for 6 weeks, then wake up to a generic rejection email. The worst part? I found 12 others with the exact same timeline on LinkedIn.
The recruiter called me excited about the 'generous' offer. When I heard $45k for a senior developer position in SF, I thought it was a prank. Cost of living is literally 3x national average. They seemed genuinely confused when I declined.
Six. Rounds. CEO, CTO, 2 VPs, team lunch, and a 'culture fit' assessment with HR. All positive feedback, 'loved my energy,' 'perfect for the team.' Then ghosted for 3 weeks. Recruiter finally responded: 'We decided to pause the role.' They posted the same job 2 days later.
Had three rounds, all went great. Fourth was with HR and she literally said, 'We usually hire younger people for this role, more energy.' I'm 35. She also asked if I had kids and if I was planning to. Illegal? Yes. Still happened? Also yes.