As an also-Director of Engineering applicant, I'm at the point where if I get to the onsite and you ask me beginner Javascript questions or give me riddles, I'm

As an also-Director of Engineering applicant, I'm at the point where if I get to the onsite and you ask me beginner Javascript questions or give me riddles, I'm inclined to say thanks but no thanks and move on. Not literally, but it's definitely not going to make a great impression on me. After all, part of the reason you're hiring a Director of Engineering is to... well, direct engineering, including the interview process. Still, it's a red flag. I would also chime in to agree with @trek. I've followed the careers of people my teams have passed on, and they're almost all wildly successful. I've been happy with 75% of my hires. I obviously haven't figured it all out, and my teams have definitely let some good ones slip through. Surely we can do better. It reminds me of an observation I read the other day. Paraphrasing: "When I am an applicant, I think I'm being interviewed by geniuses. When I'm the interviewer, I'm ecstatic if they can write 10 lines of code." Ain't that the truth.