[cloakandswagger]

In my mind, that does apply when you're talking about entry level software development positions. If someone is an SDE1 (or equivalent) at Facebook/Google/Amazon, I assume they're smart, determined and they studied a lot for the standard whiteboard interview.

If someone is a senior engineer at one of those companies, I assume they have a reasonable amount of talent. It's not easy to fake it or avoid expectations as a senior engineer.

[linkregister]

Agreed, the level of responsibility as a senior engineer at the "Big N" companies is generally too high to permit a mediocre engineer to survive. People get demoted from manager and staff engineer positions all the time, and it's not a career-ending event either.