Agree that individually it doesn't make a lot of sense to get upset about it, but this has been my experience with all of tech interviewing for years now.
Their behavior is pretty standard, from what I've seen: super drawn out process, unpaid projects, ghosting.
You'd think with all that "gold" from identifying these shitty companies that I'd be rich or something ;)
I'm just not sure about tech. I've been working in tech in San Francisco for 8 years since graduate school and in addition to all the problems with hiring and interviews, I have: been fired by startups a month before the equity cliff, had patents filed on my work with me as an inventor without my signature (company sold to Facebook on strength of those false patents; FB tried to get me to assign later; I refused and they dropped the patent),had to buy and pay taxes on options that ended up completely worthless when the startup folded, worked for a full year without a 1-on-1 meeting with a 'manager', been silenced by separation packages that require 'non-disparagement' in order to get the money you need to pay rent, etc.
You'd think the big companies would be better but they're not. I once spent 6 months interviewing with Google. Then they called me the next year to apologize for how shitty their interview process was.
I graduated college during the great recession so learning to code was a skill to survive and make money, but it's been almost impossible to make a stable career out of it.
I think maybe it's time to get out of tech. I have multiple degrees from Ivy League schools in liberal arts fields but I guess I believed the Silicon Valley dream. I'm not independently wealthy or anything - I'm the first person in my family to go to college at all and have had to figure everything out through some pretty painful and expensive lessons. I've got a lot of grit but this stuff is getting out of hand.
I've generated millions and millions of dollars of "value" for my overlords and have nothing to show for it.
Anyhow... thanks again for your post. I really do appreciate it.