Eeeee! I've never been through an interview process that elaborate, no. (Then again I've always come on board with an organization through some low-level casual job and worked my way up. Hm.)

It does sound very draining. Good luck!

Feh!
I am of the opinion that this is just because the hirer doesn't want to waste time; few people make it to the interview stage now (it's all online and phone screens - get past that and you're in the Final Four, usually). Even The Farm typically has three groups plus job talk. I spent the better part of the day interviewing here, plus lunch at the Faculty Club. Oh, and I met Daisy first, in Boston. And did a video interview (where I couldn't see them, but they could see me, yay science. I pretended I was doing weather forecasting).

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the more convoluted the hiring process, the more important the hiring organization considers the position. So long interviews = good! I think.

Well, I know I'm in the last five for this job -- they are interviewing one person per day this week and I should hear back early next week -- so yeah, I guess it means they are serious.

I think people have just lost common sense. When we hired a receptionist at my current job, everyone in the company interviewed her (11 people). Nutso. Congrats on the interviews though... I hope you find a good fit soon.

Google makes prospective hires leap through a long series of increasingly narrow and flame-covered hoops, so obviously any company that does that will see its stock price shoot up.

Here at MS, the process is worse than that. Generally, there's the phone screen (I handle a lot of these), which is 60-90 minutes, depending on the position.

If they pass that, they come in for what's usually a 7-ish interview day plus lunch. Basic philosophy in larger tech companies is that employees are an investment, and in the current litigation climate, you hate making a hiring mistake, because it's impossible to get rid of people.

Good luck!
The amount of interviewing seems to fluctuate with the job market and the position. I've had everything from "talk to 2 people and then start work immediately" to 3 days of interviews.