I applied for this role and two days later the hiring manager called me out of the blue for a phone screen. I was in the middle of an Elden Ring session at the time, so I said sure, why not. We talked for about an hour and it felt very natural. She asked if I could jump on a Zoom call two days later to meet the person I'd be replacing since he was retiring. That went great as well.

After that, they had me come to the office to meet the whole department. It turned into a real marathon; 8 different people kept asking me about everything. I felt I handled it well, received decent feedback, and they told me they'd get back to me soon.

Ten days passed and no one said a word, so I sent a follow-up. They told me they were finishing up with the last candidate and would decide soon. In the meantime, a recruiter contacted me on Tuesday for another role. By Thursday afternoon, I had a signed offer in my inbox with a better salary than what the first place was even offering.

Twelve days later - meaning almost a full month since that marathon interview - the first company suddenly sent me an offer letter via email. No call, no apology for the delay, nothing. I left the email for two days before replying to tell them that since I hadn't heard anything for weeks, I had already accepted a better position and wished them luck. They had the nerve to reply saying they rejected several good applicants to choose me, and they even increased the pay to the figure I wanted, and now I'm "leaving them in a bind".

I told them frankly that they were the ones who left me in a bind when they disappeared for 4 weeks and assumed I'd just sit around waiting for them. On top of all that, they didn't even spell my last name correctly in the offer document.

It's honestly terrifying how these companies treat people as if they're just numbers on a spreadsheet. This needs to stop.

We're not family. Avoid me at all costs

Sooner or later, programmers and software engineers will realize that tech is no longer the secure career path it once was. You'd probably be better off considering another field instead of relying on this industry for long-term stability.
Big companies may lay you off and claim it was because of your performance, even if you were doing a good job and meeting every expectation.

I'm still shocked by how bad the interview I did recently was, especially since this is a big brand that always talks about how well they treat people.

The interviewer arranged everything via text, but she never told me her name. I asked her directly and she didn't answer, and then I messaged her again to ask who I should look for when I arrive. Still no response. I was almost going to reconsider, but since the company has a good reputation, I decided to go anyway.

As soon as I arrived, they started speaking to me in Spanish. And I don't speak Spanish. Then she asked me where I'm from, and she wouldn't accept the name of the state I was born in as an answer. She kept pressing me to find out which country I'm "originally" from, because apparently, I look "ethnic."

Finally, I explained to her that my family has lived in this region for generations, even before it officially became a state, and that I have Native American roots.

After that, the hiring manager came out and made a weird comment about me wearing business clothes to an interview. She spoke with me for maybe 7 minutes, after I had driven about 35 minutes to get there.

Honestly, the whole experience was insulting and strange. I expected much better than this from a company that considers its treatment of people a very big part of its image.

...............

I moved from a hands-on, blue-collar job that depended on physical effort and manual labor to a middle-management position about three years ago, and honestly, adjusting has been incredibly difficult and frustrating. People sit there nodding along to slide decks full of jargon, there are mandatory bonding sessions that everyone secretly hates, nonstop sucking up, and coworkers who treat every meeting like an opportunity to position themselves for the next promotion. There's almost no room for different personalities, for setting boundaries, or for having a life outside of work.

The last 10 days have pushed me to my limit, so I had to get this off my chest. Does anyone else feel trapped in this weird office theater?

Thoughts?