I agree with you 100%, but I do have a bit of sympathy with the insistence that they want to verify that everyone can code and not just talk a good line. I mad

I agree with you 100%, but I do have a bit of sympathy with the insistence that they want to verify that everyone can code and not just talk a good line. I made the mistake of hiring someone quite senior through internal transfer once who was utterly and flagrantly unable to code despite the job saying this was a requirement - I probably could have caught this with a simple fizzbuzz, but felt like this would have been too insulting. At at least some of the FAANGs it's also a pretty clear indication of the fact that you're going to get busted way down and work your way up. I was a Principal Engineer at Intel with a successful exit in a highly technical area, but I would be shocked if I wouldn't have to re-earn my stripes at most other companies. Most of the super-smart guys I know who went to Google, for example, got busted way down and quickly earned their way up. So if we're not up to grinding and expect to go back in at a high level, maybe it's kinder to warn us off early. :-)