The initial screen call was normal. They set the expectation this would be a very demanding job, which I appreciated. The next interview was with the engineering manager, which, from my end, went well; I asked when to expect to hear back either way. I was told 1 or 2 weeks, and they would let me know either way. No problem with that. 2+ weeks went by, and I reached out to the manager with the same email to see if there were any updates, as I was excited to get my hands on the take-home. It has been 5+ weeks since the interview, and I have yet to hear anything. Retrospectively, it feels like a dodged bullet - they demonstrated little value in communication or common decency. When the manager mentioned being employee number x and hearing they have aspirations to be the same as the size of Google, I felt instant red flags, and there were more to come. I value workplace culture and balance greatly, if you do too, I'd tell you not to bother.

1st round was with the manager. 2nd round was a take home assignment which was way too hard than any take home assignment I have ever solved. I felt that either I don't qualify for their high bar or I was not being considered anymore for the position (hence such a challenging problem posted to me). In either case it was not right for me to invest my time on it anymore. Hence I withdrew my candidacy. Reading other interview reviews I feel that there are 2 different set of problems, depending on if they really want to hire you, you get a certain problem. That's just a speculation, I could be wrong. On a side note it does feel like I dodged a bullet here, specially after my interaction with the manager.