Phone calls, lots of phone calls. Over 40 emails back and forth. Every time I needed a question answered, they had to setup a phone call. Seemed hesitant to reply in emails. It got frustrating after a while. After the final call I waited for around 2 weeks to get a response. I was told twice there would be an answer by a certain time, I cleared my schedule, no answer. I really was getting frustrated with the recruiting staff. I was asked consistently if there was any reason I would not accept an offer if I received one that I liked. I made sure I stayed available for the entire process which was not easy at the end. After all this frustration, the initial offer was below my lowest number. I was pretty upset that I waited months for this, put other interviews on hold. They knew my range and not once did they say it might be an issue. I countered with my highest number, knowing they would never meet it. To me it was a breech of trust and a sign of disrespect for my time. It's very important to me to trust the company and the leadership. Although I had great conversations with the dev team and was ready to make the move, the company and it's representation plays a large role in your career. They did move up to my lowest number, but the damage was done. Maybe for others it would not have been a big deal, but in my years of interviews it's one of my red flags. If you agree to interview me and I take the time to go through the process, you better be willing to offer me at least the bottom of my range. Offer a few grand more just to show you mean it and you've got them in most cases. Yes, I've been on the other side. If you can't, you state that up front, why waste time. The people I interviewed with could not have been nicer and I was very excited to be part of the team there. The person that would have been my manager was great. But you cannot get away the need for the company to support you. You always have to deal with HR in some form. The process represents the company and what you can expect going forward. If they are playing games at the initial offer, what about when I'm an employee? Maybe I just didn't know the rules of the game and should have immediately countered with a number more than my max and we would have ended up in the middle. I don't know, I'm a programmer not a talent agent.