It's much more simple than that. It's meant to prevent job mobility. Eng salaries are already absurdly high. Ever noticed how almost all the big tech companies

It's much more simple than that. It's meant to prevent job mobility. Eng salaries are already absurdly high. Ever noticed how almost all the big tech companies do more or less the same ritual? It's entirely design to prevent seniors from moving around. They're too expensive already. It is almost collusion. Before the big tech companies used to have a secret handshake agreement not to poach each others candidates. They were caught and ordered to stop and forced to pay fines. This was around 2013/2014. Since then LC questions have become absurd. The process is designed to favor younger candidates who will accept less money and work harder for the company.