[plesner]

Getting a good sense of a person is really difficult, especially through something as contrived as these technical interviews. And any company that sees enough applicants that they can afford it will err on the side of rejecting candidates even if they know they're probably good, if for whatever reason they're not quite sure. I've interviewed people that blew me away and then seen them rejected. I don't intend that as a criticism really because I can't imagine a hiring process, however well meaning, that doesn't have this issue to some extent. It's just how these things work.

When you don't get hired though, almost always you will err on the side of blaming yourself. I've heard about people blaming the process but I've never met someone in person who did that. And actually I suspect there's a Dunning–Kruger effect working where the more qualified you are the more likely you are to turn a rejection inwards and blame yourself.

I'm not saying that's what happened here, I don't know. Just keep in mind that hiring anywhere, including at amazon and google, can't be a fair process to the candidate. And you're the least objective observer of your own performance.