He applied to 150 companies; that's not even remotely the same as being rejected 150 times. When you don't have somebody referring you inside the company, you'

He applied to 150 companies; that's not even remotely the same as being rejected 150 times. When you don't have somebody referring you inside the company, you're doing well to even get acknowledged by 50% of the companies you cold-apply to. Most companies will never write back, and many others will simply send a canned rejection if they can't tell you are a 100% match for the role based on a glance at your resume. Many companies simply don't look very closely at applicants applying directly, and if you don't have any of the signals people use as a proxy for quality (prestigious degree or prestigious job) it's tough to make it out of the slush pile. You have to approach your job search as if it were a sales funnel, focusing on optimizing those things within your control. Those factors are number of applications, quality of your application materials and portfolio, and actual interviewing skill. You can't easily influence whether somebody takes the time to read your resume, which is why I don't think it's a bad sign that he had to send out 150 apps as a person without a strong professional network in the area. As far as I'm concerned, the real process begins when a recruiter sets up the first informational phone call. I'd be much more concerned if I found myself frequently flaming out at various levels of the process after I actually have a company's attention. Converting those warm leads into job offers is where raw interviewing skill comes into play. Some people, like the OP, just need a little practice to get good and comfortable at it. No shame in needing some practice at those things that frequently come up in interviews but actually have very little to do with the day-to-day working life of a software engineer.