There were a lot of stages to the interview process and a seemingly endless number of hoops to go through: phone interviews, online tests, proctored exams, and even personality tests. After all that, I was offered an all-expenses-paid trip out to their headquarters for an on-site interview. The night before, when they took several of us interviewees out to dinner, I was told to "pretty much expect a job offer" because I'd made it that far.

The "interview" itself felt more like a college campus visit. Lots of tours and informational meetings, herded around with other mostly fresh college grads, interspersed by a few short interviews. It seemed to go well, I thought. I remember feeling pretty positive about the nuts and bolts (what I knew and the practice scenarios), but I was unsure how well I'd fit into their office culture. A week or so later, they left me a no-explanations voicemail that they were going to go with other candidates.

It's a big company composed mostly of extroverted young people. Lots of quirky architecture, clubs, and campus events. I've realized I really wouldn't have fit in well, and being around so many highly-social people would probably have drained me. I'm an introvert who'd rather spend my lunch break eating in my cubicle with a book than in a massive dining hall "networking." I'm guessing that was the biggest mark against me. I was shy, quiet, and not super-social. I really, really wish they hadn't acted so thrilled about me before and during the interview, though. I quit applying to other jobs because I'd been told they were pretty much a sure thing, then out of the blue, they dropped me and I was left at square one. I'm kind of pissed they took up so much of my time when they probably could have realized I wasn't a good fit early on.

Main advice to other applicants: Keep your guard up, even though they're acting all nice. With a company so big, it costs them nothing to run you through the process, even if they choose to drop you for someone else in the end.

What is your salary expectation?