I was initially contacted by the hiring manager for a phone interview. After a 15 minute conversation, mostly just going over my resume, I was invited for an on-site interview. The interview was an all-day event, with 5 one-on-one interviews (i.e., team lead, engineering executive, staff engineer, HR, and hiring manager). Most of the interviews were a review of my resume, a few bits about the position, and some behavioral questions.
I got a call two days later saying there were some concerns over functional fit and was able to secure a follow-up phone interview for a few weeks later. The follow-up took about 30 minutes and was mostly a discussion about how I would overcome the steep learning curve and went very well; I was told that my paperwork was going over to HR for final approvals and to expect a call back in two weeks. Four weeks later I got a call back turning me down.
My overall impression was that I was turned down because I was an external candidate. The thought being that it was next to impossible to learn everything I needed to be successful, because even the internal new-hires are struggling in this position. With that said, it makes me feel like the entire process was a waste of time, money, and effort.
I do however, feel that this was not a typical cycle. I recently had another on-site interview, with a different group, that had much different feel.