Yeah exactly this. "Figure stuff out without looking anything up or running test cases to see what they produce or going on a walk to think about it" is just no

Yeah exactly this. "Figure stuff out without looking anything up or running test cases to see what they produce or going on a walk to think about it" is just not a useful skillset at all. I have zero, and I mean zero, times done actual work under those conditions. Having said that, I am sympathetic to companies not knowing what to do that is better. There are real tradeoffs with all approaches. I kind of think if I were to design the hiring system from scratch I would 1. Hire essentially anyone interested at the entry level for low paying 6 months apprenticeships, and 2. Hire more senior people based on their resume alone, with aggressive use of performance improvement plans for underperformance after 6 month or so probationary periods. I'm sure this idea sucks too.