As a retired software development manager (among other roles throughout the years), the problem is that industry, collectively, has no idea what determines succ

As a retired software development manager (among other roles throughout the years), the problem is that industry, collectively, has no idea what determines success. The infatuation with boot camps, certifications, specific frameworks/libraries, even languages is detrimental to identifying real talent. Worse is CIO lust for a new technology regardless of its applicability to the particular domain, e.g., cloud and cypto. Consequently, interviewing and hiring an experienced software developer, who may be extremely talented, can be an uphill battle if they don't check all the right boxes. Up until the last two years prior to retirement, I worked for a very large, well known insurance company. The HR staff wouldn't even pass along resumes that didn't check the boxes or pass the automated review by the application software. The problem is further exacerbated by the ready availability of "certified", cheap resources from companies like Cognizant, et al. I went to the HR department and insisted that I see all the resumes which caused a bit of firestorm but fortunately the CIO supported my request. I was looking for talent, degreed or otherwise, for which I was willing to pay more, regardless of their specific technical backgrounds. All they had to do was be confident, frequent readers/learners, and convince me that they could learn our environment and deliver. In the end, my team had a higher average salary but a lower head count than competing teams (around 45 persons, mostly cheap Cognizant contractors vs. my 15, all employees) and we tended to hit our project targets with greater frequency. And never forget, particularly in technical interviews, the interviewers will often be out to show their peers and managers that they are smarter than the candidate. For example, around 2010, I interviewed for a VP position at a company that required nine phone interviews with different peer and subordinate managers prior to the in person interview. I scored well on 8 of the 9 but the last was with a potential subordinate who wanted to focus on optimizing Java/Oracle on a server. Every question was some technical minutia about Java, which fortunately, I had never had to learn. He, of course, voted against me. I withdrew my candidacy because the last interview suggested a culture I didn't want to be part of or fight to change. I explained the reasons but I doubt anything changed. So interviewing, if not terrifying, is at least intimidating and a royal PIA. Just be confident of your talents, continue to read and learn, and if it doesn't go well, F it, and keep looking.