Although the initially polite, professional and disinterested approach to the interview process was appreciable, the later responses by the HR were extremely dissatisfactory.
The first formal round started with a series of online coding tests, comprised of some fundamental but good coding questions about .net. From demonstrating a collection and enumeration to questions related to JQuery selectors, HTML5, MVC4/ASP.net, subjective theoretical questions about OOPs. It was conducted online and went well.
The interviewers were happy with the responses.
The second round was with a (Swiss) Solution Architect and was a video conference via skype. Asked average but fundamental questions however, the major part of it was to describe and explain the architecture of the best project that I had worked on. It followed with a shared presentation of the coding skills (basic snippets) using Google shared docs.
This round went well too.
Next, the HR for the correspondence changed and that is where things went skeptical. When I didn't receive a response for the next 6 days, requested for the feedback to which the 'new' HR responded that he received a 'positive' note from the Architect. The next round involved completing a mini-project using the best architecture, patterns and libraries that demonstrated the OOPs, MVC4, JS, Design Patterns and other skills. It also required a sort of TRS to accompany with the completed project.
Spent 2 days (more than 8 hours) parallel to the already pressing full-time job and completed the task with alacrity.
(Aside: I have more than 5 years of experience in architecting and implementing robust and exhaustive MVC4 applications using Repository, Unity, EF, and other important design patterns that every well experienced developer in the field would be aware of.
By now, it had already been over 2 weeks since the interview process started.
Here is where I got disappointed. The HR, though I won't call him indifferent or dawdling, did not respond for the next 5 days. When I finally requested the status on the 6th day, was informed that the project had been sent to the 'Swiss' architect for evaluation and he was pressed due to work, will respond shortly. Strange! Six days - short mini project - ongoing interview - a company with more than xxxxxxx... employees - how many more days? Still waited patiently.
Eventually, when I didn't hear a word from the 'new' HR for the 'next 2 weeks', tried to seek an update on the status. Another HR (the initial one) whom I included in this conversation promptly responded (as always) that the 'new' HR will get back to me shortly.
After 3 days, I received a verbiage (copy-pasted) that 'many applications were received, others match well with profile.. blah blah.. '. We all know that standard rejection verbiage.
When I demanded a feedback on where the project was found lacking and the feedback, dead air prevailed.
Honestly, I do not think that an organization as the stature of Expedia would act so irresponsibly (or carelessly? or unprofessionally?) I don't know, it is for you (or may be some seniors at Expedia India, perhaps 'Expedia Global' to decide). After all, I had put in a lot of 'hard-work' due to the pine and interest to work with a good brand (that I personally liked). A commensurate feedback was the least that was expected.
I vehemently question the HR that if he knew that the 'mini-project' was wanting, he could have shared it much much earlier (atleast not 3 weeks!!) so I could have materialized other substantial plans. May be I was too patient.
It seems that the issue here was not really with Expedia per se but one person. I believe that it is my responsibility to speak out the issue and put it in writing so those who care, know!
Moral - When interviewing with Expedia India, pester the HR for the updates, don't be too patient. Ideally, never wait for more than 2 days for a response (unless explicitly asked).