[Shindi]

> They promised me an onsite interview to simply meet the team and potentially secure an offer.

Was that your first tech onsite? The onsite is an interview you have to pass, you're not guaranteed an offer. Also why did you not bring your laptop to your tech interview lol

Honestly, sucks to fly out far and get rejected but that's part of the process my guy. Most onsites are 5 back to back interviews.

[huehehue]

Fwiw, every time I "meet the team after interviewing", it literally is just to meet the team. If there were any technical exercises involved, I'd expect an agenda or some kind of heads up. And it makes sense to wait for the technical evaluation before scheduling this sort of meeting, imo.

For bigger orgs, this is a chance to sanity check team fit and potentially re-route if longer-term interests align better with some other team. For startups, it can be more of a vibe check.

[thegginthesky]

Not my first on site either, but normally I'd just need to go through a phone screen and a tech test to secure an onsite, not many hours of interviewing. Plus, I just listened to what the recruiter told me through the phone and confirmed through the email.

Why would I think I'd need to go over another round of interviews after spending over 4 hours interviewing remotely, plus interviewing with engineers, to do it all over again?

[simoncion]

> ...why did you not bring your laptop to your tech interview lol

I have several reasons for not bringing my personal hardware to a corporate interview, and a couple about the specific situation as described:

* I wouldn't travel with my laptop to an on-site that was described as a meet-and-greet.

* The recruiter promised suitable hardware would be available at the surprise technical on-site interview: "Despite my lack of a laptop, they assured me one would be provided."

* For many companies processing corporate data on personal, not-managed-by-the-business hardware is a firing offense.

* Grabassery happens, but if it's clear that my potential employer is an established company that is unable to plan ahead far enough to ensure that the interview has the hardware and personnel required for the interview, that's a _huge_ red flag for me... and one that's good to get out of the way early.

[comte7092]

> Also why did you not bring your laptop to your tech interview lol

I’m not really “in tech” but this sounds like some bullshit for me. What if you don’t have a personal laptop? All I’ve got is a desktop machine, because my personal devices aren't for work.

> Most onsites are 5 back to back interviews.

What an absurd practice.

[s__s]

> What an absurd practice.

Indeed. If it takes 5 interviews after 4 hours of remote interviewing your hiring process is completely broken. Giant red flag.

[sodapopcan]

> Most onsites are 5 back to back interviews.

After after going through a whole crapload of interviews, "most" onsites definitely are not 5 hours. They certainly are a thing. Some are even longer. But out of around 25 interviews, only three places requested that much time (I declined two of them).