Technically I was qualified and able to answer their questions. But ultimately was turned down after 6 rounds of interviewing. I think I was heavily dinged because I wasn’t entirely familiar with their product in the wild, and was never given any hint as to what product I would be working on.
I also disagree that interviewing is not a technical challenge. For most programmers it is. There are very few who can breeze through FAANG-level technical interviews.
The only reason why I'd come somewhere is if I like the engineers or if I'm in need of money. If I need the money, I won't ask a thing.
I understand the reasoning: if you think you have a special mission and want people dedicated to that mission, filter by dedication. But I'm not really sure there is a way for any one candidate to consume as much time interviewing for a role as that company could consume out of a pool of candidates. And that includes my smart-ass idea of trying to interview at Pinterest and stopping in the middle of the interview saying "please sign up to see the rest of this whiteboard solution".