Some great insights here buddy. That was a nice read.

In the first paragraph or two you mentioned the interview question "what is your greatest weakness" and of course nobody answers these questions honestly and there are interview strategy books that teach you how to answer this question so that your fake "weakness" is actually a strength. Something like "I have very little patience for inefficiency" or other such nonsense.

I remember being in an interview once and to my left on a bookshelf I noticed the exact same interview strategy book that I had recently read on it. The guy interviewing me used nearly the exact formula that was in that book so I knew exactly what sort of answers he was looking for. I got the job.

Later I would reveal to him that I saw the book and that's why I knew exactly what sort of answers he was looking for. He seemed a bit disappointed in himself for that. I didn't keep that job for very long but I suppose that is a story for another day.