[incognito_limey]

This also reflects how broken hiring is in tech. Leetcode and algorithm memorisation has very little to do with being a "good" developer. Can you communicate your ideas well? Can you understand and follow up when requirements are not clear? Are you able to work with others well? This last point in particular is where I find a lot of candidates fall down. They maybe able to invert a binary tree, but if they have to have an actual conversation with say an end user to help resolve/understand a problem, many of them can't.

[lmilcin]

That is exactly what I am seeing. I think of things like ability to communicate, lead, etc. as force multipliers.

It does not matter much how good your technical skills are if other force multipliers are very low.

More than that, people who are bad at communicating and relations tend to stay away from these problems -- trying to bring every problem to technical level -- basically ensuring they are continuing to be at a disadvantage.