I was job hunting recently and I can confirm this. Work as a developer at a previous company is better than work in the open (side project) and work in the open is better than work you can&#x27;t show, and some experience is better than no experience (but having raw intelligence, willingness to learn, enthusiasm).<p>Then, even if the work is in the open you have to sell it to them. At one interview I didn&#x27;t feel very well so I couldn&#x27;t do this. But the website was on their laptop and they could have try to use it a bit. Instead they relied on questions.<p>Then you have the not-so-smart but with experience developer that never changed jobs and so they are now team lead etc. They ask you &quot;how long will it take you to learn X&quot;. You say &quot;2 months&quot;. Their reaction is &quot;this guy is bullshiting me, I&#x27;ve spent 2 years learning this thing, how could anybody else learn it faster?&quot;<p>Then there are the guys asking question google could answer for you. But because you don&#x27;t know the answer they don&#x27;t give you &quot;the points&quot;.<p>After all this, they turn around and complain about how hard it is to find talent.<p>I&#x27;m from Eastern Europe.