Paktolus interview questions

Took 4 rounds of technical interviews over a span of 1.5 months and finally was not selected after the round with the Head of Engineering, which I couldn't understand even though the HR told me the final round is just a formality and I cleared all technical rounds.

The interview process was well-structured with three phases. The first two rounds were technical, focusing on in-depth JavaScript concepts, databases, production-level knowledge, and unit testing. I successfully cleared all the technical stages. However, in the HR round, the experience was disappointing. Even though I clearly communicated my salary expectations upfront, they offered around 30% less than what I mentioned. It felt like they had already decided on a lower budget before scheduling the interview. Considering my expertise and experience, the offer was not aligned with market standards. When I tried to adjust my expectations, instead of moving forward, they put my application on hold. This left a negative impression, as the entire process seemed misaligned between the technical hiring and HR discussions.