I don’t know you personally, but I think humility matters a lot. You mentioned that you’re “pretty smart,” and this may very well be true. I’m involved in inter

I don’t know you personally, but I think humility matters a lot. You mentioned that you’re “pretty smart,” and this may very well be true. I’m involved in interviewing at my work, and one thing I’ve learned is that raw intelligence alone isn’t what stands out most. I consider myself a hard worker, but realistically fairly mediocre in terms of pure skill or ability (and that’s okay, I’m doing fine). What matters more to me is that I’m always trying to learn and grow. I tend to find it offputting when candidates describe themselves as “experts” or “highly skilled” in technologies or languages. It’s possible to be an expert, but usually that comes with very narrow depth. These self-declared experts are often a red flag. I’ve been coding in C# for nearly 20 years and have been using AWS technologies for nearly a decade, and I still wouldn’t call myself an expert. I find it a bit amusing when self-declared experts cannot confidently explain the inner workings of the garbage collector or the CLR in great detail. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing those things, but declaring yourself an expert sets a high bar that often doesn’t hold up. Personally, I much prefer candidates who are humble, honest about their strengths and gaps, and clearly motivated to keep learning.