The luck could come into play by getting questions on the test that he was prepared to answer. For example, in 2014 I worked at a FAANG, and was applying to ano

The luck could come into play by getting questions on the test that he was prepared to answer. For example, in 2014 I worked at a FAANG, and was applying to another FAANG. I had a co-worker who was the same level as me who also applied to the same company, and bombed the interview. However, I knew from extreme first-hand experience that this coworker was a better engineer than I was by far. But it just so happened that I got lucky with the questions I got, where they all fell into my wheelhouse, and he got unlucky. I got the job - he didn't. I consider that luck on my part. In retrospect, maybe he did get lucky and I got unlucky, since his stock has outperformed my stock by 3x over that time range.