I only made it through the first interview with one of the talent acquisition individuals and while I felt the interview went well, I was not asked for a subsequent interview with members of the team. Generally I like to have an understanding why I was dismissed so that I can grow as a professional and the response I received was strange to say the least. The interviewer told me that "the team enjoyed speaking with me", that I had a "great attitude" that would bring me "success" in the future and that they opted to pursue applicants with a "greater level of web design experience."
What's interesting is that I never spoke with any other team members beyond just the one talent acquisition team member. Furthermore, I have over 15 years of applicable web design experience with a high level of success and the current position I hold would be considered as a higher rank in a company. I consider this a bit of a canned response that most likely was cut and pasted from a document of approved responses. Asking a company for feedback to why they decided to pass on you can open them to a world of vulnerabilities and often times they opt not to be honest. However this level of honesty is what helps people focus their career objectives and continue to grow both personally and professionally.
Based on other interviewee reviews of GitLab, I can honestly assume that my salary requirements were out of check with the position advertised. Not a bad company, but based on other interviewee commentary, if you make it past round 1, you can expect another 11 rounds of interviewing. I'd rather be rejected early than get to the end only to learn I was rejected after a large time investment.
Why did I interview? Remote opportunity.