I had phone conversations and then a technical screen from a potential team member. I came on site for a round of interviews, five in total, and had lunch there.

It was specifically mentioned that they don't do exploding offers because they believe they are the wrong thing to do. That earned them some points for doing the right thing. However, every time I could be cut off in discussion, I was, so they could take control of the situation and the discussion about compensation. It wasn't really a discussion at that point and seemed like a berating of sorts.

My opinion is that taking some moral high ground relative to your competitors (via not doing exploding offers, etc.) is not worth anything if the psychological control is simply moved to another part of the process. Negotiations involve two sides; let people talk and express themselves to see if an accord can be reached.

My advice for future interviewees: don't mention compensation in verbal communication. State that this is a big part of a big decision and, since it will all be in writing anyway, you want to handle this part via email. This is just to ensure you collect your thoughts properly and everyone is happy at the end. If they can't deal with that, walk away.

Because of this behavior, I short-circuited the process after the on-site interview.

The individual people I interviewed with seemed great. Some senior people seemed a little full of themselves in a smarmy, weird, laid-back kind of way.

Implement a JSON encoder.