Right? At least pre-covid, I would say I spent at least an hour (sometimes many hours) every working day "explaining things on a whiteboard in front of an audie

Right? At least pre-covid, I would say I spent at least an hour (sometimes many hours) every working day "explaining things on a whiteboard in front of an audience". It's a huge part of my job. (Post Covid, I do the same thing, but have to do it over chat) IMO: "Do you have a clear understanding of your area of expertise, and can you communicate that understanding on to others?" is a far more useful predictor of success than "Can you find the right answer to the kind of problem that can be solved on a whiteboard in 45 minutes, or in 5 minutes by searching for an answer on stackoverflow?" That said, I agree that generally interviews are terrible. But the (implicit) screening for soft skills isn't the terrible part.