How common is it that folks self-sabotage their interviews? I think I might have during one of them unintentionally. I had interviewed at a FAANGMULA company and mentioned a competitor. The pay was low compared to my level, but also, I felt like it was more junior and I tended to go very long winded (lack of practice) for various questions. It seems I am a bit out of practice for soft skill interview screens, though usually I kick butt on these and spend way more time on DSA than anything (my weakest area since I'm rusty and system design and behavioral interviews don't scare me at all).
Thoughts?
I have done this, by literally cancelling on my interviews i had lined up. I would say that it takes practice and to not be too hard on yourself - best thing you can do is learn from the experience and be aware so you dont make the same mistake. Also doing practise mocks with others
"Sabotage" is a strong word, but as I talk about in my job searching course, a lot of candidates fail not because they don't have the skills or knowledge, but because they completely fall apart during the interview for whatever reason and aren't able to recall their mastery.
This happens all the time with FAANG interviews as the stakes are so high, especially with candidates who are trying to break into FAANG. It's hard to truly tell if a candidate had what it takes if they failed, but if I had to put a number on it, I would say ~20% of failing candidates could have passed had they not melted down into a pile of spaghetti when things got real.
When it comes to interviews, it's best to not let the failures get to you and keep on improving: "How to figure out why I'm not passing onsite interviews?"