Looking for a Job Is Tough

Sometimes I feel like you guys live in alternative universe. Nothing about the "bad" interview sounded too atypical. Sure it's annoying, but not uncommon enough to be exceptional.

I don't mean to discount anyone's unpleasantness but you'd be surprised how much worse the rest of the world is.

Software engineers are used to companies fighting over them. Now we're in a market where it's normal to have lots of experience yet be unemployed for months. So it's a shock for many (though not atypical when compared to plenty of other fields of knowledge work, as you note).

Or the past? I wasn't around back then, but I've heard the 2001 recession was the same.