Here is my perspective as JavaScript developer with over 15 experience and possibly more than a hundred interviews. This includes any job that mentions things like jQuery, React, Angular, Vue, TypeScript, Node.js, Deno, and on and on.
1. Nobody knows how to evaluate for competence, so technical interviews always start with basic literacy and are generally (not always) extremely subjective. This holds true even for senior developer positions. It's the equivalent of a journalist interviewing for a job and being asked to demonstrate writing words or a lawyer demonstrating they can read.
2. There are some extremely talented brilliant people in this line of work, but you will likely never know if you encounter them. Few people in this line of work have any incentives to do more than put text on screen using a framework. That means most of the brilliant stuff happens only in never disclosed personal projects far outside of work or at the largest software companies with budgets dedicated for exploratory open source projects not directly associated with the employer's primary business interest.
3. Low confidence and emotional insecurity are out of control in this line of work. There is little incentive to become an excellent craftsman in this line of work, because its rarely rewarded but frequently discouraged. The primary business interest with regards to this silo of software is hiring. Way back in the day when I first started writing this sort of code it was all about talent discovery, which was very expensive with poor results. So, instead its long become about finding for the lowest common denominator because they are cheap to replace. Many of the developers doing this work are fully aware of this and are utterly reliant upon a single tool or set of conventions to qualify their employment, which is extremely fragile. Worse, most of these people are entirely replaceable by ChatGPT and there are YCombinator start ups already building those products.
4. I have encountered so very many people in this line of work that cannot measure things and cannot write. I am not talking about writing books, but writing quick emails or simple dirty documentation so that you are not repeating the same failures over and over. Based on that, in past years, I would suggest to people offline in the real world that everybody should become a software engineer. If you can pass a 30 minute interview and write your name then you too could have a 6 figure income with low stress sitting at a desk all day. You didn't even need any kind of education.
In summary none of that is sustainable. Years ago I remember people on here scoffing, laughing, and becoming angry at the idea of professional licenses for software developers to identify the capable adults apart from the children in the room. The entitlement was pretty brazen. Then suddenly most of these people then found themselves out of work. Now when I bring up stuff like licenses or certifications the reaction is completely different.
1. Nobody knows how to evaluate for competence, so technical interviews always start with basic literacy and are generally (not always) extremely subjective. This holds true even for senior developer positions. It's the equivalent of a journalist interviewing for a job and being asked to demonstrate writing words or a lawyer demonstrating they can read.
2. There are some extremely talented brilliant people in this line of work, but you will likely never know if you encounter them. Few people in this line of work have any incentives to do more than put text on screen using a framework. That means most of the brilliant stuff happens only in never disclosed personal projects far outside of work or at the largest software companies with budgets dedicated for exploratory open source projects not directly associated with the employer's primary business interest.
3. Low confidence and emotional insecurity are out of control in this line of work. There is little incentive to become an excellent craftsman in this line of work, because its rarely rewarded but frequently discouraged. The primary business interest with regards to this silo of software is hiring. Way back in the day when I first started writing this sort of code it was all about talent discovery, which was very expensive with poor results. So, instead its long become about finding for the lowest common denominator because they are cheap to replace. Many of the developers doing this work are fully aware of this and are utterly reliant upon a single tool or set of conventions to qualify their employment, which is extremely fragile. Worse, most of these people are entirely replaceable by ChatGPT and there are YCombinator start ups already building those products.
4. I have encountered so very many people in this line of work that cannot measure things and cannot write. I am not talking about writing books, but writing quick emails or simple dirty documentation so that you are not repeating the same failures over and over. Based on that, in past years, I would suggest to people offline in the real world that everybody should become a software engineer. If you can pass a 30 minute interview and write your name then you too could have a 6 figure income with low stress sitting at a desk all day. You didn't even need any kind of education.
In summary none of that is sustainable. Years ago I remember people on here scoffing, laughing, and becoming angry at the idea of professional licenses for software developers to identify the capable adults apart from the children in the room. The entitlement was pretty brazen. Then suddenly most of these people then found themselves out of work. Now when I bring up stuff like licenses or certifications the reaction is completely different.