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Typical conversation with a recruiter...

NB: "Why won't you do a coding test?"
Me: "Do you believe I can't code after 30 years of coding?"

NB: "Well, no but they want to see how you code."   
Me: "Then there's several projects in my github."

That's when stuttering and stammering start.   

NB: "Well, uh, maybe you didn't write that code".
Me: "If my resume and code are fake, why are we even talking?"

Why do I want to deal with this paranoia?

The coding exercise is a variation of the brainteasers that Google promoted for years. They have no predictive value about writing software. It's an alpha geek domination / gatekeeper technique. The gatekeepers refined a contrived problem for days and tell me to solve it in an hour. But I rarely see the contrived issue or it's wrapped in awkward wording to hide it, so I get a condescending reply,

"Wellllll, you did okaaaaayyyy but you missed some stuff".

Why do I want to mess with this?

They can play their game and protect their territory, skipping it saves me time and annoyance.



Likewise, I don't do group interviews anymore. There's always one who resents my resume or I'm a threat to their job or paranoid that I'm not online or I didn't smile enough. The job is about their insecurities instead of the product and I'm not a baby sitter or psychologist. So I skip 5 or 6 hours of pointless annoyance.

I manage my annoyance because they can't admit they aren't hiring for software development anymore. They're hiring for ego gratification or socialization or DEI/ESG or virtual signaling or protecting their territory or joining their church and I don't care to figure out the Why anymore. In earlier times most jobs were about delivering the product instead socializing, paranoia, obedience and conformity relabeled as "diversity".