"I interviewed for a Senior DevOps role, completing a take-home assignment, a technical interview, and discussions with both a product manager and team lead. After successfully passing all steps, I received an initial offer while they finalized the salary. However, the process became increasingly frustrating. I was kept waiting for months, with reasons such as vacations and other delays cited. The process, which started in July, stretched until October. Communication eventually ceased, even after a verbal offer was extended. When they did reach out, I was informed via email that a junior candidate had been hired in the meantime, though they assured me this wouldn’t impact my role: "As mentioned earlier, I'll update you the moment I have any news. On a related side note, while you were interviewing with us, there was another candidate who also really impressed us and we ended up hiring one who's more junior than you are - so the team's +1 since you last spoke with us. They haven't joined yet, but just wanted to share the team's just a bit bigger now too. This should not affect the position you interviewed for, but I did want to share so that you knew in case you see any news that ChainSafe hired someone and coincidentally they have a similar background." Eventually, I received this final message: "I won't keep you in suspense either—the role has been postponed, and we're going to revisit in 2025. The needs for the role shifted as the project requirements went from needing a full-time resource to more likely a fractional one, so it just didn't make sense to try to bring you on board and have you get bored and underutilized." Being kept waiting under the impression of a firm offer, only to learn that the position was reduced and postponed until 2025, undermines trust in the entire hiring process at ChainSafe. This approach reflects a troubling disregard for candidates and demonstrates a lack of integrity. It’s far from what I expected from a company that claims to value transparency and support. Such actions damage the ecosystem's reputation and undermine the trust that candidates place in the company. The process held me in limbo for four months, during which I was repeatedly asked about other interview statuses, only to ultimately hear that the role was postponed. Meanwhile, ChainSafe went ahead and hired a junior candidate. The claim that “things change quickly in smaller companies” doesn’t excuse the fact that my four-month interview process didn’t move quickly at all. This reflects a lack of transparency and undermines trust, raising questions about ChainSafe’s integrity and commitment to candidates.