Agreed. And there's a lot of great talent that doesn't even want to try with some of these companies solely due to the hostile interview process.
I resolved up front not to submit to any kind of take-home test, proctoring software, or algorithmic nonsense unrelated to the actual job of shipping software. A polite "No thank you" was what I planned. But the plan was thwarted!
I was pleasantly surprised by the technical interviews I actually got. They were mostly nicely constrained problems that were real-world and not algorithmically nasty. One was a little unintended "collaboration" in the form of helping a senior dev debug their own "what is wrong with this code?" exercise (it probably went smoother for the next candidate they interviewed). In short, it was actually kind of fun.
I started a new dream job this week. At 61 this is no longer easy, but the company is enlightened enough to support me while I get up to speed, and it's fun to help mentor the folks just getting into the industry.
There are decent companies out there. Hopefully the terrible ones will start getting a clue.
Ideally, interview questions should be directly related to the domain of the position. Show the candidate what they will actually be doing if they accept an offer.
The whole process should be a two way conversation.
The hires, then, focus on the right customer problems and don’t spin on creating random, useless code.
Everyone from mgmt to ICs, technical and non-technical, are happier.
I think companies that break out of the leetcode habit are going to do well. There's a lot of great talent out there that's being passed over by these tests.
If the job is to solve leetcode problems, by all means, test the candidates for that. If the job is to solve real life problems, there's almost certainly a better measure.
I will never judge someone based on that kind of problem. I believe the data that results is just bad.
Edit: I should add that leetcode is useful for developing programming and problem-solving skill. I've done tons of problems, myself, and have fun solving them... and learn from them. So I do recommend it for a challenge. But not for interviews.