I haven't had a legitimate technical interview in over ten years, because I haven't cold applied anywhere in that time, either. The jobs I've gotten in this tim

I haven't had a legitimate technical interview in over ten years, because I haven't cold applied anywhere in that time, either. The jobs I've gotten in this time have always been through a personal recommendation from a current employee or friend of a current employee. This is how most jobs are filled. The 3rd party recruiters, the online job boards, the e-applications on the company's website, they're a smoke screen. They are how they get to say they are an "equal opportunity employer". Most places won't give interviews to 99% of the people coming in cold. They are mostly used as a pool of beards to make the hiring process look open when they have someone on recommendation for a job. They'll pick the 3 best resumes out of the pool and then put them through the impossible technical interview. They will fail and all that is left is the person with the recommendation.