I finally applied to the dream company that I have always wanted to work at. I had been hesitant because I didn't want to be rejected by the company that I admired so much. After I read the job description I knew I had a shot at the role I applied for. I had a screening call with the internal recruiter and it went fine. She called me while her and the whole HR org were in Portugal on a company outing. We talked and everything went fine. She said I was moving on to the next round and I should look up the information about the interview process there at Gitlab. I talked to the hiring manager a few days later and it went well. They sent me a take home exercise. I completed it in just a few days. A few days after that I met with the two guys i would be working with. We got along really well and they said and I quote, "Your documentation alone for your project got you the pass. Your actual work you turned in got you the A." A week goes by and I finally get an email that I need to speak with another SRE. He wasn't anyone I would be working closely with but he said they just needed more people to talk to me. It went great and we got along really well. Another week goes by and im finally told I need to speak with the final VP that was the hiring managers boss. That went great also. I waited. And waited. And waited. Two weeks went by and I had heard nothing. I emailed the recruiter and she said they were waiting on the hiring manager to get back from vacation and it should only be a few days. Meanwhile im interviewing at another company that would have actually paid me more but I knew I had the Gitlab job and I would be a lot happier there. I turned them down when they made an offer. Another week goes by. Then another. I finally emailed the recruiter again. Nothing. About 3 days after that I get a standard denial email. I asked for feedback and the recruiter said the team "really really liked me" but they had to go with an internal person for this role who had applied after me...because he was internal. I was told that another internal recruiter would be reaching out to me about another role they wanted me to apply for. I never heard from him. I applied for the role through the website 2 weeks after that. Its not another 2 weeks after I applied and I still have not heard from anyone. Gitlab...Maybe you need to read your interview manual because you didn't follow it at all. Never meet your heros kids.