I interview SWE candidates at a big tech company. I've been the freelancer guy, I've been the senior SWE guy, I've been the architect guy. But feel free to take

I interview SWE candidates at a big tech company. I've been the freelancer guy, I've been the senior SWE guy, I've been the architect guy. But feel free to take what I say with a grain of salt. Frankly, you do you. Companies come in all shapes and sizes and they're going to interview however they see fit for themselves; nobody is going to bend backwards to accommodate your preferences. All your manifesto is really doing is formalizing in writing that you want to artificially limit yourself to only a small pool of companies with specific hiring criteria. From my experience that rules out all of big tech, and a lot of product companies (i.e. most of the higher pay band). Sure the market is "hot" right now, but understand that however your job hunting experience plays out, it'll most likely be in spite of your stance, not because of it. The way you write your manifesto comes across as someone who isn't all that interested in keeping up-to-date (i.e. a 20 years experience person saying "docker is something people should be given a chance to learn on the job" doesn't exactly project "senior" vibes), and judging from the verb tenses you're using, it doesn't sound like you've actually had much experience with how this manifesto plays out when rubber meets the road. My advice to you is don't assume that you're always going to be in demand with a narrow skillset, especially as your expectations of pay increase. Someone close to me was very comfortable and confident just a few years ago and is currently struggling with the changes in technology and the overarching industry in just a few short years. Likewise, you might just be feeling over-confident from your current job stability and dreaming up recruiter-pwning fantasies, but you might be just one boss change away from realizing your leverage in the industry at large isn't as strong as you think it is.