Experience and personal projects get you past the screening process, interviews get you past the hiring process. Most companies aren't looking for personalized

Experience and personal projects get you past the screening process, interviews get you past the hiring process. Most companies aren't looking for personalized interview processes in order to assess a candidate's fit. They're looking for standard, comparable interview processes where they can justify their decision and hold interviewers accountable. It's easy to compare two Hackerrank scores, harder to (objectively) compare personal projects. Hackerrank-style interviews suck and they aren't representative (not even remotely) of real working conditions. But they are good at something: evaluating the tenacity and the drive of a candidate. You need to work hard to ace these interviews, and companies are looking for candidates who are persistent and able to work hard—even on things they don't choose to work on.