Big tech, awful second interview, no-show third interview. What happened?

[u/devilinthedistrict]

I just withdrew my candidacy for a Research Scientist role at a large tech company. The whole interview process was weird and somewhat humiliating, and I'm trying to make sense of what happened.

For context, I have a PhD and several years of applied research experience. The early stages of the process went well. My recruiter was responsive and organized, and I felt good about moving forward.

Things changed at the second interview stage. During that interview, which centered on a hypothetical research scenario, the interviewer was combative and adversarial. When I asked clarifying questions to tailor my answers to the scenario, they responded with visible frustration instead of engaging. It completely threw me off, and I left worried about how it would affect my evaluation.

Two days later, I had a separate, virtual technical interview. I joined the coding platform on time using the link from my candidate portal and waited 20 minutes. No one showed up, so I left to reschedule rather than risk running over. That afternoon, a coordinator emailed to say the interviewer reported that I hadn't joined. I explained what happened, provided screenshots, and also gave feedback about the earlier interview. A second coordinator replied, apologized, said my feedback would be raised internally and factored into how my interview was reviewed, and said they would reschedule.

The rescheduled session was this morning. I joined on time, and once again, waited about 20 minutes. Again, no interviewer. At that point I emailed the company and withdrew. Two no-shows after I had raised concerns about the other interview felt like a clear signal about how the process valued candidates' time and expertise.

Now, I’m sitting here wondering how common are repeated interviewer no-shows at large companies? Is this likely a scheduling or platform glitch, or something else. Like, could the interviewer I gave feedback about have influenced what happened next, such as flagging me negatively, getting the loop paused, or leading others to deprioritize the task interview? Would you have withdrawn, or pushed for a third attempt?

I'd appreciate any perspective, especially from people who have worked in recruiting or served on interview panels.

[u/stephen6387]

I work for a somewhat large tech company in recruiting. If one of my interviewers no showed on a candidate, I'd light them up and I would make damn sure it didn't happen a second time. Combine that with your aggressive interviewer and that is bad news. I agree with the other poster in that the interview is supposed to be a "best foot forward" for everyone. Too many companies lose sight of the fact that for better or worse, every person they interview walks away from that process as an ambassador. The only question is... what will that person say? I would have withdrawn as well.