[insvwallhitsyou]

Can relate to most of that. After passing on-site day and hiring committee at a FAANG, was nixed at the executive level for "career trajectory" issues. In other words, "too old". Another place opined "skills rusty" after I pulled a recursive-descent parser off the top of my head in five minutes.

One of the problems with rich companies is that they can afford to have nonsense hiring policies. There's no real pressure to do right by candidates, so why bother?

I ultimately stumbled across a solution of sorts, which was to find a money-poor, non-SV organization with serious tech problems to solve. They're f___ing lucky to have me, they know it, and I'm treated accordingly. Very gratifying.