I hate leetcode-style interviewing, but I see no reason to believe that FAANG companies use then primarily because of ageism. The reasons they're used are simp

I hate leetcode-style interviewing, but I see no reason to believe that FAANG companies use then primarily because of ageism. The reasons they're used are simpler. First, these companies need MANY programmers, so they're mostly hiring generalists without a regard for the specific work they'll be doing. Second, they need to conduct many thousands of interviews per week. These two fairly unusual conditions make for a situation where you want a controlled, quantifiable, and simple approach. A leetcode-style interview hits those marks much more easily than other styles. Plus, you can teach someone how to do it in an hour or two (not how to interview well, but how to ask a leetcode problem while not making any headaches for legal in the process). While I agree that this is probably at least slightly biased against more senior devs, I think senior developers actually get an advantage here. In my experience, as you apply for loftier positions, the technical questions become much more of a conversation.