Status: 7.5 years experienced, Frontend Engineer
Position: SE3 at Top Fortune 10 MNC
Location: Remote (Wfh)
Date: May 2022

1st Peer Panel Interview(1 hour):

• JS fundamentals
• Problem Solving (string based)
• Problem Solving (data structure parsing of data object)

2nd Peer Panel Interview (1 hour):

• JS output based
• Machine Coding (Autocomplete)

3rd Design Round(1 hour):

• Component Design (different types of components)
• In depth Redux store, React hooks etc

4th Hiring Manager Round(1 hour):

• Behavioral questions
• Current project details
• Expectation alignment

Result:
Was positive in all the rounds. Interview process and result took about 10-12 days. After this I was asked to share my documents.
An offer was extended to me verbally. I was fine with 90% of the offer components and requested a 10% change on the variable component. The HR informed that she will check what can be done and then give me an update.
However, after this, there was no update shared with me for abut 10 days. I had called up the HR a couple of times during this period and was informed that the new offer was undergoing approval.
Then after 10 days, I was told that they were not going to go ahead with me because they had found someone else for the role who was ready to come in at a much lower compensation. This was followed by a rejection mail.

The only thing that I have learnt from this whole experience that being a person with honesty and integrity hurts. This would have been my third switch. In both the previous switches that I made, I have never looked for a competing offer in order to get a bidding war going on. It was not my intention even this time. Once I accept an offer, I look forward to join that company. And that is why I always give my exact expectations even before interviewing, which was the same thing that was done even this time.
And because of this, 20 days of my precious time was wasted which I could have used in targeting another company.

My simple assessment is this: If my expectation was over budget, why were the interviews conducted? Why was the first offer verbally shared? The only logic that I can find is that the company only bought time to interview another candidate, and they were never working on revising any offer.

In this case, are the candidates who look for multiple offers really wrong? Aren't they only keeping their backs covered in case the company revokes an offer? Who is to guarantee that if I had accepted the verbal offer, it would not have been revoked after the "cheaper" replacement became available? Does it really make sense to be honest and ethical when looking for a switch after such an experience? Don't these practices by the company actually encourage and even reward candidates who go "offer shopping"?
Is it really possible for someone to be ethical and honest after an experience like this?

I understand each of you reading this will have various answers to the above questions. The point of this post is not to justify or malign any practices by anyone. It is only written with an aim of creating awareness for people like me, who believe that their honesty and ethics will be met and matched by the same standards and principles. It is to let them know that this may not be the case. That they don't remain without a job just because there was a breach of trust on the part of someone else.
In the end, everyone has their own conscience, principles and values that they can base their judgements on, and it is not what they can gain by compromising on their principles, but instead, what all are they willing to lose, before they are ready to give up on what they currently stand for.

With that, friends, I wish all of you the very best in all your lives!