I just had a phone interview for a software engineer position at Tesla.
I don’t think I did well. But we’ll see.
Just feel like venting a little.
Is that all? Surely you have something more to vent than that.
At least give us some basic info. Where did you find the opening? Do you need this job or are you just looking? Why do you think you didn’t do well?
More importantly, can you get a steep discount for friends? 
I kinda need it and kinda don’t. I’m not working right now, and we can live on my wife’s salary alone. But I don’t want to sit at home and do nothing.
A recruiter contacted me, I guess based on what she found out about me online. My experience fits what they’re looking for exactly.
I have a very, very hard time solving programming problems with someone staring over my shoulder, literally or figuratively. That’s why even though my managers have always praised me, I always do terrible in the interviews. So the interviewer asked me some problems I couldn’t figure out fast.
I recently applied and was interviewed for a new role in my dept. It was 1 interview with the hiring manager, and 2 panel interviews with 2 co-workers each. Everyone already knows me - we work together all the time. The interview questions from each and every one of them was 100% scripted situational questions. “How would you do this…?” and “What would you do if that…?” There were maybe one or two questions dealing with my actual skills and experiences, and those were spawned from the situational questions. Some of the questions I had to think a little, but I did not want to think too long, so I grabbed the best and most recent examples that came to mind, but I admit some of my responses were not as tight as I would have liked. Prior prep would have helped.
Anyway, I thought I did well, as there were lots of nods in agreement, and seemingly satisfied indications from the panels. I did not get the job.
Moral: you may have misjudged your performance.
As someone who has hired a couple of people in IT in the past year or so, I consider how the question is answered and the thought process behind it. For example, asking how the interviewee arrived at the answer, etc. I want to see how they think through problems and solve them, not how well they can google an answer (although that may be the right answer sometimes as well). Attitude matters a lot as well; I discarded some candidates for too much arrogance on the phone. I want someone humble enough to admit they’re wrong, need help, or don’t know something. Willing to learn is miles better than know-it-all, especially in the fast paced world of IT. For example, my most recent hire was about 3rd in knowledge but number 1 by far in attitude. His knowledge gap was easily closed where an attitude problem is more difficult to fix.
There’s a lot that goes into the decision including experience, references, attitude, etc. if they focus just on “grading a pop quiz”, they’re doing it wrong.