Of the many companies I have interviewed with, this company in particular has a disorganized and horrible method of hiring people. It seems they have an added step before a phone interview and an in-person interview.

Nothing too unfair so far. It gets interesting...

For the positions I was considered for, they sent me an "email test." One is supposed to complete this test, which may consist of (in my experience):

• A coding (technical) question
• Several gaming questions

There may be more than one coding problem, and don't assume this will be done in an hour or so. Coding questions (at least in my case) were either more than one, or required many hours of development time. You may or may not be timed.

The catch is that you don't know what they're looking for exactly in the gaming and technical questions. So your answers are just your best effort with a great approximation. It is not like a phone or in-person interview where you can go back and forth until you have a complete understanding of the question. They just won't speak with you until you have passed this test.

After spending hours and hours of development time, you may be told the standard answer: "After a careful review, we have decided to consider other candidates," blah blah.

I must warn you: I have seen cases where a developer spent several days to get everything perfect, sent the test, and within a few minutes or barely an hour, received a standard rejection email. It makes one wonder what was missing in that idiot test.

Several hours/days of your life gone, before you even speak with a person about your job, what the job type is, what the responsibilities are, what the team does, etc., etc., etc.

After you have passed this obscure test by making the right guesses about what they've been looking for, you will be asked to provide a time for a phone interview. Questions here may depend on your position type and your luck. I am not going to reveal the questions.

If you have somehow managed to pass this round too, now comes the fun part. You will be told to fill out an employment form and a permission to do a background check (even before you are hired and before you have gone for a 1:1 interview).

You will be asked to provide an EXACT EXPECTED SALARY. Not an expected range, not any other answer. An integer value that is meant to work against you.

You will be kept completely in the dark about what they offer (not even a range), what the job responsibilities are, you have not even met the team, you are not even told in some cases if the job position is basic, mid-level, or senior because the position they may hire you for may change based on your skills.

You are given not even a hint besides what you already know: "Go look up online and provide me with a number."

If you confront this by saying that you don't know anything about the position yet, you don't even know if there is a mutual fit, and thus you would like to wait until there is a mutual fit, then you are bluntly told that if you can't provide a number, they will terminate your hiring process right then and there.

That is a BIG BIG sign of a type of company that you shouldn't consider (unless you're in dire need of a job and will settle for anything).

Technically, salary discussion does not even matter until a later stage because what if you're not hired after an in-person interview, what if you don't like the team, what if you don't like how the team is working or the person who will be your lead/manager, etc., etc.

A good company that cares most about a candidate (in my experience) never forces them to provide an expected salary. But this company requires an expected salary number with a threat to end the interview process immediately if not done so.

So basically, no idea about the position title, no idea about the salary range because of that, and no information from their end about a wide range either.

Let us say you're nice and you provide a number; you're playing pretty much a game of Russian roulette. If you guessed the number that they like (or in their words, that they can afford), you're good. This just means that you have compromised your negotiating position. If you guessed a number that they don't like, you're done. No second chances, no discussion in general. Just a standard email.

Don't forget, this is all after you have spent hours and hours of development time in their email test, then prepared for a phone interview and interviewed with them on the phone.

I personally know that I will stay away from this sub-standard company. I personally would rate their interview process as incredibly horrible for the amount of money that they make. It will be sheer luck if they pay you well in the progression of your career.

Their phone interview may contain any type of questions, technical or non-technical. It will definitely include gaming questions, especially about Blizzard games.