[xenihn]

I got my current job without interacting with HR at all. Phone screen with the CTO. Phone screen with the engineering manager. In-person interview with the CTO, then the engineering manager, then the team I would be joining. In a perfect world, prospective employees (of any discipline) would have absolutely no interaction with HR prior to being given an offer, and HR would have absolutely no say in hiring.

[vita17]

The perfect world you're talking about has Personnel departments instead of Human Resources. Personnel departments deal with the tactics of staffing a company without the strategic planning that HR departments do. Interaction is okay. They just shouldn't be part of the decision making process.