I’ve been sitting in some interviews for the first time from the other side, and there are a handful of observations I’ve made both from the candidates we’ve in

I’ve been sitting in some interviews for the first time from the other side, and there are a handful of observations I’ve made both from the candidates we’ve interviewed and myself. Just to note, this is at a typical boring enterprise type company. No leetcode or take homes. The interviews primarily consist of mostly very simple “trivia” type questions that someone with the bare minimum experience with our stack should understand. One of the big things I’ve noticed, is people don’t know what they haven’t used. Something pretty common I’ve noticed in some candidates is that when they’re asked how they would X they start going into some over engineered proprietary framework or library that they’ve used at their past company rather the more fundamental answer we’re looking for. They never really get the chance to learn things because their first job out of school has them working on problems that require a very limited skill sort or ability. I can’t speak to how 2007 was, but I wonder how many programmers couldn’t figure out fizzbuzz because they simply never had to use modulo division. I’ve never had to use the modulo operator in my time building CRUD apps and frankly I had never heard of it until I had heard of fizzbuzz many years ago. Keep in mind that many people come from non traditional background and do not have any sort of technical education besides what they learned themselves and that for a number of business that’s been enough to hire them to maintain whatever business applications they’re working on. I myself am not a particularly good developer either. Though I could pass a fizzbuzz test there’s no way I’m making it through even some of the easier leetcode problems. And so, at this point I’m looking for a way out of the industry. But when you look at how much money even no name companies will pay for a job that is not gatekept by expensive credentials and can be learned on your own time, you’d be dumb not attempt run towards it. Note I’m not arguing for a credentialized gate keeping, I personally can’t stand credentialism, but there are a wide variety of people rushing into the field who can make decent money even if they’re not particularly good as long as they’re providing whatever the employer things is business value.