Technical interviews are an inconsistent and unreliable predictor of success, which is bad for the industry and bad for companies, but works in your favor if you’re set on attaining a Staff-plus role and are willing to conduct a broad search. Interviewing creates the opportunity to play “bias arbitrage,” finding a company that disproportionately values you. That might be a company that values folks with conference speaking visibility, your experience designing APIs, or your Ph.D. thesis on compilers.
