I'm still getting people trying to give me these interviews, despite often having bigger track record than many people interviewing me, plus (pre-vibe-coding) open source code.

For one company, for a supposedly real principal-level technical position, I reluctantly did an early takehome ("architect this unusual thing"), and multiple live exercises, and they want another round of live exercises.

I told them I still have no idea what I'd be working on, nor who I'd be working with, and now we're burning a lot of time on (I put this more diplomatically) frat pledging rituals.

IMHO, a company can only get away with frat hazing, just to join them, team-unseen and work-unseen... if they are Google.

To be Google, a company has to pay 3x+ what they're currently offering in guaranteed TC, plus somehow gain 100x the prestige they are lacking, and also become widely known for treating employees well.

Sure, companies can still cargo-cult ZIRP-era nonsense interviews, but hiring today based on that nonsense -- when you might need to actually have a sustainable and viable business before investors can exit -- will help them to go out of business.