Yes, big cooperations are different. I did apply at a design company and assumed my application was just one of many and did not appeal to them. It turned out they had just messed up and forgot to set up an interview.

Like I mentioned in the sibling, I did the same thing, and I was a bit hesitant because I figured it may come off wrong.

The person in question did reply and was very nice, so I give them credit. But I think at the end of the day the maximal nudge they could give was just "hey, make sure we put eyes on this dude's resume." It's a boost for sure, and I appreciated it - but still never got an email back?

I think my resume is nice, but it just doesn't give the full picture, and it's pretty hard to get across the experience that made me think I was a good fit in that format. I'm confident that, had I gotten to the initial phone screen, I'd have at least gotten to the next step in their process, but who can say.

Further, who knows if I could have passed the tech portion of the interview - and this company's is apparently pretty tough. If it's tough in the leetcode sense, I would very likely not pass it (at least without studying, which I wouldn't have had time for in this situation).

Anyway, was still worth it to take a shot, I have a good gig already so I'm not in the situation where I'm desperately throwing out dozens of apps - but this role did seem cool and I still think I could have done the job really well.