I like a lot of what you said, but: It’s you versus the tens or hundreds of other qualified people who applied for the job. If you’re not the best

I like a lot of what you said, but: It’s you versus the tens or hundreds of other qualified people who applied for the job. If you’re not the best of those applicants, you’re not getting an offer. This doesn't even stand up to a quick reality check. If only "the best" out of "tens or hundreds of other qualified people" ever got hired, we'd be seeing 90%+ unemployment rates for engineers and clearly that isn't the case. The reality is clearly nearer the opposite! Seems you've got a few incorrect assumptions there. 1. You're assuming that the people doing the hiring actually can identify "the best." 2. You're assuming there actually is one "best" candidate. 3. You're assuming that the person they decided was "best" actually accepts their offer. The reality is that demand still outstrips supply, so most engineers do find work, but it's a highly imprecise process where nobody really knows how an engineer is going to work out until they've spent six months in the job.