I 100% agree with you. I got my shot at my job title (not SWE, but in SaaS) from a non-traditional background for that role because the hiring manager was given

I 100% agree with you. I got my shot at my job title (not SWE, but in SaaS) from a non-traditional background for that role because the hiring manager was given carte-blanche to find the person he wanted to work with. We had breakfast, we clicked, we spent two years killing it. No way my resume gets through a more traditional hiring process (I know this, because I know some of the traditional hiring team wanted to throw out my resume).