The proof of some of this is that these companies could come up with a standardized test maybe with, say, smaller-scale refreshers every few years (this is norm

The proof of some of this is that these companies could come up with a standardized test maybe with, say, smaller-scale refreshers every few years (this is normal in some professional certs) and save a ton of money if it were really about ensuring a base level of competence using these sorts of questions as the yardstick. But that would dramatically increase worker mobility, for one thing. So they don’t do that. (“No it’s because they don’t want you to be able to test prep” that makes no sense because 99% of the way to prep for these is… exactly like test prep)