I interviewed for a job at repl.it a while ago. At the very beginning of the interview process I wanted to make sure that he would be ok with my rate (120k) and that we're on the same page, because coding interviews can be time consuming. After the interview process, he offered a contract-to-hire and low-balled at less than half of what we discussed at the start of the interview process, and then retracted the offer entirely 2 weeks later after negotiating and what I thought was part of onboarding...
I did well in all of the interviews, but I had a bad experience at the final interview where I had trouble setting up the React/Typescript/Parcel tooling for the coding project, taking up a very significant chunk of the allotted time. Usually parcel doesn't give me grief and a breeze to set up, but I guess I had bad luck that day. I noted that I should prep the tooling for the stack before any timed interviews in the future.
I finished everything except that part, but I had started to set up the final step with the algorithm set up for it and discussed how to do it in the follow up discussion. It seemed like were impressed by my knowledge and still seemed interested in me, so I thought there was a shot.
So here's the abbreviated email chain:
Amjad: "[...] we can't move forward with a fulltime offer at this time. However, what do you think about doing a 2-week contract project that if it goes well we'd extend a fulltime offer?
If this sounds good to you, we'd talk about the terms of the fulltime offer before moving forward with the contract project so that you have an idea of the potential compensation for a full-time position."
Me: "Yeah I'd definitely be interested in the contract-to-potential full-time offer. [...]"
...then a whole 2 weeks go by discussing over email with him on salary negotiation, W2, benefits, etc. The 2 week contract offer would be at the rate we agreed on for salary, and if it went well then I'd go on to full-time. I thought it was a done deal and he was just prepping the contract, but then a whole week goes by without hearing from him, so I follow up with him.
He replied:
Amjad: "So sorry for the delay, but we decided to go with someone else for the role. Let's stay in touch for future opportunities."
Me: "I don't understand, we agreed on an offer two weeks ago. Is there any feedback you can give me if it's something on my end?"
Amjad: "We didn't agree on an offer [...] so I suggested doing a contract as a way of an extended interview. And then we went back and forth and the details, meanwhile we continued to interview and found someone who's local and a better fit for the role. Sorry, this didn't go differently."
Me: "[...] The way I interpreted it is that you've finished interviewing for the role and wanted to extend this trial-to-hire period, or a hire with a probation period, and if it didn't work out you'd extend the offer to your second pick. You didn't mention anything about an extended interview. [...]"
Amjad: "I thought explaining where you didn't do well in the interview and saying "therefore we can't extend an offer" would be clear."
It felt pretty shitty at the time...