This practice is a massive warning sign. I've only seen it applied by companies who lacked the technical competency to actually interview a candidate in depth.

This practice is a massive warning sign. I've only seen it applied by companies who lacked the technical competency to actually interview a candidate in depth. If the tech lead / architect is competent then he/she can just a candidate from the CV and an hour of chatting. The two worst developers I've ever had in my team both aced those interviews. How? Their colleagues did most of the work for them. It worked out great for me, it cleared out the dead wood and punished some faker at another company :)