Ask HN: Have you ever been/hired fast, and how did it work out?

Back in the day, I was a programmer, and I use to get hired in a day, sometimes over the phone, etc. It always seemed to work out fine. That's not to say that I haven't bounced early from a position -- just that, I haven't been able to spot any discernable difference in the success rate of a hire based on the length/intensiveness of the hiring process. Potentially with one exception -- if I feel strung along by the time it's over, I'm going in with a grudge. That can dissipate very quickly if all things are semi-normal at the new gig, but how often does that happen? As I've gotten older, the hiring timelines have stretched out from say 1-2 weeks to 6-8 weeks. I assume that is because I'm older, because the industry has changed, because the positions I'm applying for are not quite as cookie cutter as 'sr. java dev', etc. I don't think the longer, more-everything hiring processes have resulted in better results, if by better results we mean a match that is mututally beneficial for myself and the company. I try to stick to contracting for this reason, but if the perm gig is there, and it seems fine, I'll take a chance, why not? I'd probably prefer if more startups hired on a contract-to-hire basis, so we can try to rock and roll for 3 months, and if it sucks, we part ways, no problema. But if that type of situation exists or is evolving, I have not heard of it.