This needs repeating - interviewing is a skill you have to, and you can learn. Like lsc below, I'm also a "mercenary". But probably much less competent and may

This needs repeating - interviewing is a skill you have to, and you can learn. Like lsc below, I'm also a "mercenary". But probably much less competent and maybe even better in interviewing. My background is in humint which gives me some skills to "read" people, figure out exactly how to build the trust with the interviewer, get them to like me and even manipulate the conversation towards the questions I want them to ask me... In my 17y IT contracting career, I didn't have a single interview that didn't end up in an offer despite my significant lack of algorithms or programming knowledge. Luckily, I didn't have 5h pair-programming interviews. You can make it "click" with the company and you can manipulate their "gut feel" to tell them that you would be the ideal candidate for the position. It's not fair and it's irrational that people like me can get the job instead of some much more capable developers, but that's what humans are - irrational.