On January 6, I got a test invite from Palo Alto Networks and I attempted the test by next day. I then informed the recruiter about the test submission. After about 3 weeks later, I got a call from recruiter saying that I scored good in online test and they are proceeding with further rounds. The recruiter seems very open and approachable until it went worst towards the end. They scheduled 2 rounds and both were happened on a single day.

Round 1 was DSA + some discussions on the project
Round 2 was HLD + LLD + some discussions on the project

Round 1 was good except that he expected more optimal answer. Interviewer was literally want to argue on the time complexity of PriorityQueue poll() operation (everyone knows it's O(logn), but this genius says it is O(n)).
I stopped arguing further and kept quite.

Round 2 went pretty well compared to Round 1. The discussion was around the design of Amazon like ecommerce system and focusing on deep dive into one particular component.

After about 2 weeks, I got a call from recruiter saying "what happened? you scored really high in test, but not very good feedback from previous rounds". I asked for the verdict (reject/accept) and he wanted to schedule further rounds for the final verdict. I also mentioned that I already have an offer and have short time to reject that offer. I told him that you need to be more proactive in sending feedback asap. He then mentioned that he's not getting feedback from their employees as they're busy with the work. Also, they're interviewing further candidates and all are getting rejected! He then scheduled Round 3 (purely on DSA as he mentioned that Round 1 feedback isn't good).

Funny thing is that he modified the position from "Staff Engineer" to "Senior Backend Engineer". I haven't questioned them as I thought that I might have not done well in previous rounds and they're just giving me a second chance.

Roudn 3 went really really well. I answered 2 questions in 30 mins and were able to provide optimal solution for both. After 2 weeks of ghosting, recruiter called me and said that round 3 was very good and they want to conduct one final round (with hiring manager) for the decision. I told that it's almost near to the joining date for the offer in hand and I dont have much time. He still insisted for R4 and I agreed for one last time.

R4 was okay, I answered some of the questions and I couldn't answer some of them because I didnt work on itin my career. He then asked about LLD of snake game. After that, again ghosted for a week.

Recruiter again called me and said that the previosi roudn was decent and they're waitign for manager decision and will dispatch offer soon. He asked the same questions that he has asked multiple times in the past ("whats your offer in hand?, are they providing stock? etc.) .

Whenever he call me, he try to downgrade the company where I have the offer. He says that "company isn't good, this company is no way comparable to Palo alto, we have people from faang in our company, myself coming from faang, you dont have stock with this company, but we provide stocks, we provide way better compensation, bla bla..". He repeat this every now and then. He blabber about this without providing me any confirmation on my candidature. I would have passed his statement if the offer is made. But without that, it's just blabbering. How can I believe this guy and reject the offer from the other company? I have been telling countless times to the recruiter that I have only few days left. Atleast the other company is transparent and they proactively sent me the updates. Just imagine, if I reject the current offer and this guy doesn't respond, I would become jobless. He doesnt understand my stand and always moving away from his promises.

He always say that he will come back with update in 2 hours and never respond back. May be the best favor I can do for him is not to mention his name here in public. In fact, I see a lot of smilar complaints from candidates in glassdoor. Some unfortuante folks did 6 rounds and ghosted further. I wouldnt accept the offer from these people even if a 1CR CTC is made. I would prioritize transparency and mutual respect over anything. If you guys are appearing for their interviews and already completed 4 rounds without updates, stay away and dont accept anymore interview requests. Save yourself time and energy!