I am at the other side of the spectre, I have less than 2 years of experience, but I have the same feeling that there's no shortage, just unnecessary friction.

I am at the other side of the spectre, I have less than 2 years of experience, but I have the same feeling that there's no shortage, just unnecessary friction. I am moving to LA from Brazil next month. I am a self-taught frontend developer. I am 39 years old, but still a junior as I changed careers less than two years ago. I participated in two process with the standard remote technical interview solving a problem live coding in communication with a senior developer. I realized I won't pass this kind of interview unless I focus on studying solely for it. I am planning to buy "Cracking the code interview" because I cannot afford to not have a job in LA, but it feels such a waste of time. I am almost 40 and tired of pretending that some trivia and practice on a simulated environment is transferable to real jobs. I am the kind of developer that agrees with the idea that software developers' job is to solve business problems, not coding. That knowing what to code is more important than coding fast. That communication with people in and out of the team, developers and not developers is an essential skill. But that's not what the hiring game values. I have no ambitions of being a "real software engineer" that will work on cutting edge technology. I am happy building complex websites that will make a company money. I hope that once in LA I will meet some entrepreneurial types with promising business models that value what I can do well. But the reality is that I will have to learn to play the hiring game.