I suspect that yes, interviews are getting harder on average. I also think that even if they weren't, it would still feel that way for us experienced folks (als

I suspect that yes, interviews are getting harder on average. I also think that even if they weren't, it would still feel that way for us experienced folks (also ~20 years of experience here). For one, as you get more senior, interviews will get harder in order to assess your level of seniority. Secondly, I found myself being very indiscriminate about opportunities early in my career, and very much opposite later on. That has meant that the companies I have applied for later have all had much larger pools of applicants and therefore much harder interviews. I suspect the new grad FAANG recruits are at an advantage here (dubious though it may be), in that they are ready to grind from the get go. Those of us that started out in a different place are running into the hazing later in our careers and there's this existential crisis of "this isn't fair" and "am I a terrible engineer" and "screw them". It took me a number of years to move from denial to acceptance. I still posit that being able to pass these interviews have not made me a better employee, just a better interviewee.