"Incompetent HR, meager hike."

I was interviewed in Jan 2023. Third party recruiter contacted me, basically bridging communication between me and Cadence. He told me a decent hike which actually was meeting my expectations. Hence agreed for interview. Interviews were hectic. Total four engineers took interview. Cadence HR scheduled a call for an hour, but it went for almost three hours and two engineers took interview. Same happened in the second schedule, it went for two and a half hours and two engineers took interview on that call. All rounds were technical except last round which was technical + managerial.

After that there was an HR round, which was just a formality and a disappointment. More disappointment came when Cadence HR shared the numbers. They were significantly less compared to what I was told. The hike was just above to my annual appraisal, which was due in next two months. I discussed all this with Cadence HR, but talented HR has only one answer to all the questions "this is the only compensation Cadence can offer". Total time waste. It appeared to me HR job was just pass on the compensation number. There was no effort from HR to explain the compensation they are offering and why different compensation bracket was communicated in the beginning.

The assessment included average to slightly difficult questions along with a puzzle.