[jacob9706]

As someone who is a Sr. Software Engineer at this point in my life, I started in mechanical engineering. I've been on both sides of the table for both positions and the differences between how candidates are evaluated is vastly different.

Mechanical engineers from my experience essentially go through talks with their future boss and coworkers to evaluate if the person would be a good fit on the team, with technical ability coming up very rarely as it's ON THE RESUME.

Software engineers on the otherhand are treated as if they do not have past experience in industry and are subjected to college tutoring whiteboard sessions (I was also a tutor in college). From my experience, the interviews rarely even introduce you to the team, or even talk about the toolings required for the job.

The hands down best software interview I've been through, unsurprisingly was not at a "tech" company, but rather Alaska Airlines. Talked about the project with the manager and how I would be able to contribute, met the team, did an actual coding exercise RELATED to the actual project that lasted 5 minutes and landed the job.