The process initially seemed positive, but concerns emerged as it progressed. The first stage with the recruiter was a good experience. The conversation was clear and professional, and it was helpful that they had a solid understanding of the role. One point raised early on was that production responsibilities in this role also included release management tasks. While this can happen in smaller teams, it stood out given the size of the studio. The next stage was a technical task, which I completed successfully and received positive feedback on. During the process, I was also asked to confirm my salary expectations before progressing to later stages, which I did in good faith based on the information available at the time. However, in the final interview it was noted that my level of experience was higher than anticipated for the role, and the way this was discussed gave me the impression that it was viewed more as a concern than a strength. As my background and experience were clear from the outset, this raised questions for me about alignment and consistency in how the role requirements were being assessed across different stages. In hindsight, this made the earlier request to commit to salary expectations feel somewhat premature. The final interview was with a team member and a prospective line manager. I found the tone of this interview noticeably different. The atmosphere felt quite tense, and at times the interaction felt more critical than conversational. Some responses were met with remarks that felt dismissive (for example, comments suggesting an example “went too well” or describing an answer as “boring”), which made the discussion feel less constructive than expected. There also appeared to be some misalignment between the role as initially described and how it was discussed at this stage, particularly in terms of scope and expectations. In parallel, I came across mixed external feedback about the company’s culture, including references to restrictive contractual clauses around employee feedback. While I cannot verify these directly, this context, combined with my interview experience, contributed to an overall sense of caution. Following the process, I reached out to request feedback in order to improve for future opportunities, but did not receive a response. Overall, while parts of the process were positive, the later stages raised concerns about role clarity, communication style, consistency in evaluation, and overall candidate experience.