That's just how the real world works, in 99% of the cases. You need to know your stuff, but past a certain point, it's almost always better to expand your network + meet new people than to put in an extra hour honing your craft.

People don't just magically get handed a $200-300-500k job. You tend to get recommended by someone, through someone you know (i.e. friend, acquaintance).

Hmmm. Where do you get that from this article, or his blog post?

Sure, he did get the 23andMe interview from a friend. But Google? and AirBnB? and Yelp? and Uber? and Twitch? Man, that would be a lot of connections.

Ben Horowitz carefully orchestrated a bidding war when it came time to sell his company. Qureshi "cracked the coding interview" and then orchestrated a feeding frenzy of a bidding war.

A well-played hand. ;-)