As an also-Director of Engineering applicant, I&#x27;m at the point where if I get to the onsite and you ask me beginner Javascript questions or give me riddles, I&#x27;m inclined to say thanks but no thanks and move on. Not literally, but it&#x27;s definitely not going to make a great impression on me. After all, part of the reason you&#x27;re hiring a Director of Engineering is to... well, direct engineering, including the interview process. Still, it&#x27;s a red flag.<p>I would also chime in to agree with @trek. I&#x27;ve followed the careers of people my teams have passed on, and they&#x27;re almost all wildly successful. I&#x27;ve been happy with 75% of my hires. I obviously haven&#x27;t figured it all out, and my teams have definitely let some good ones slip through.<p>Surely we can do better.<p>It reminds me of an observation I read the other day. Paraphrasing: &quot;When I am an applicant, I think I&#x27;m being interviewed by geniuses. When I&#x27;m the interviewer, I&#x27;m ecstatic if they can write 10 lines of code.&quot;<p>Ain&#x27;t that the truth.