Receiving a beating at an interview

It's happened to me twice so far in my career.  I've hung up the phone feeling beaten up after an interview.  I love and hate these types of interviews.  Both have been with "big boys" of my industry, Amazon and Google.  I pretty much knew going in I was going to be destroyed.  In both cases I was actually a little surprised because the questions were not overly complex or even necessarily very difficult.  The format was this. I would be asked a seemingly easy question, what is this or that?  How does such and such work?  After answering the questions the response is typically, "ok good, you said xyz happens.  How does xyz work?"  It feels like you just had a missile shot at you and the interviewer is essentially yelling, "Dive Dive Dive!"
Next comes the part that leaves me feeling defeated.  The barrage continues until we get to the part of "Why is this bad?" or "Should you be worried about that?"  or just a simple "What else?"  Because sometimes there are no more "what elses"  sometimes the answer is "Nope, it's not bad so no need to worry."  Typically I can spew out one, maybe two, more what elses before I raise the white flag of surrender and admit I'm done.
I have also found that the tone of the interview can totally be determined by your interviewer.  With Amazon I had a great first interview with a guy from Ireland.  The accent wasn't an issue and we really had a great conversation.  I did really well.  The second interview was with someone here in US and it was awful.  In some interviews the interviewer will prompt you if you are struggling and rephrase questions or describe them a little differently.  Not so for this guy.  He'd ask a question then silence.  I'd answer and he would retort, "ok."  Then proceed to the next question.  That one didn't go so well.  Not to mention I bombed a pretty easy coding question.  I'm not a developer by nature so reading code over the phone is not a comfortable thing for me.
My interview with Google I felt went ok.  Not great though, and probably not well enough to continue in the process.  I've not gotten intimate with linux internals or network switching in quite some time and we spent a good deal of time on those areas.
In my experiences with both Google and Amazon I do feel that I came out of the interview a more intelligent person.  I thought about things differently and in ways I haven't thought before in a long while.  These deep dives result in a stronger knowledge base in the end.  They also expose weaknesses and strengths to be better prepared for next time.  Yes, there will be a next time.  Maybe not with Google, maybe not with Amazon, but with someone, somewhere.
So if you've felt beaten by an interview, pull yourself up, identify where you think you failed and why you think you failed.  You'll be a better candidate due to the experience you gained.

Spontaneous Moments of Thankfulness

I've found from time to time that just sitting back and witnessing an event will trigger spontaneous moments of thankfulness.  Society in general is, in my opinion, not nearly as grateful as we could be.  We take for granted the things in everyday life without much thought or reflection on how lucky we are.  We carry on in our lives without saying thank you, without acknowledging the sacrifices of others, without a care in the worlds except that which is passing through our head at that moment in time.  Lately, I've been overcome with emotion at seemingly random times and then filled with thankfulness for the situation.

Not too long ago I attended a baby shower for one of my wife's childhood friends.  Thankfully this wasn't a traditional baby shower where unhealthy amounts of estrogen and an equally unhealthy lack of testosterone rulled the party.  The party was primarily couples that had come to celebrate.  This would typically be an easy place to find things to be thankful for: babies, children, parents, etc.  But instead, it hit me as I ventured out to the car to put my phone on charge.  On the windshield of pretty much every car there was a sticker.  It was those stickers that brought on this surge of feelings.  The stickers were all U.S. Government stickers, Department of Defense more specifically.  Even more specific than that they were all issued to identify the drivers of the vehicles were allowed access to Camp Lejune, the US Marine Corp base nearby.  I realized we were some of the only non-marines in attendance.  Furthermore, the baby shower wasn't just a baby shower, it was of sorts a deployment party for several of those in attendance, including the father-to-be.  He is scheduled for deployment a mere two weeks after he welcomes his son into the world.  That hit me and made me think about just how thankful I am for those that sacrifice so much to defend my freedom and to bring democracy across the globe.

To the men and women serving this great nation, I thank you for all that you do.  I thank you for your service to this country, I thank you for the sacrifices you make for strangers.  I thank the husbands, wives, and children here at home that lend their loved ones to our nation.  I say thank you to those that have given their lives and to those they have left behind, I behalf of a grateful citizen, I say thank you.