I started around a similar time frame, and was around during the dot-com boom. One dot-bomb company was "growing so fast" (lots of hype, almost no revenues...) that it would hire almost anyone off the street.
We also hired a lot of good people who had their skills misapplied for developing a product that made little sense. $millions were wasted.
People today would be astonished at the tech interviews back then. It was literally show up, BS for an hour, here's your offer letter. One dude even typed up the offer letter while I was in the interview. Whiteboard coding was unheard of.
I think they've swung too far in the other direction. A recent interview experience from the past decade was 6 hour long interviews, 2 to 3 people in each, tons of whiteboard coding.
We also hired a lot of good people who had their skills misapplied for developing a product that made little sense. $millions were wasted.
People today would be astonished at the tech interviews back then. It was literally show up, BS for an hour, here's your offer letter. One dude even typed up the offer letter while I was in the interview. Whiteboard coding was unheard of.