[AndyNemmity]

Not sure. The majority of comments from Seniors with 20 years of experience so far (including myself) are of the same type.

Friendly meet and greets that are informal, no coding test or take home assignment.

My best guess is your job referrals aren't from senior level people, while ours are. The CTO is the one who wants me. Or the top Senior who has control of the process.

But I'm just guessing. The norm for me is informal conversation.

[justrudd]

For me (20+ year club):

1.) Senior Dev referred me, and they had a remarkable relationship with management - informal chat and offer that afternoon

2.) Senior Dev referred me, and they had a normal relationship with management - regular interview

3.) CTO referred me - informal chat with them and the CEO, offer letter handed to me at the end of the chat with the CEO.

So I've found that it really depends on who is referring you and what type of relationship they have with the person that controls the money.

edit: fixed formatting.

[PainfullyNormal]

1) Senior Dev referred me to his hiring manager. Regular job interview from there.

2) Hiring Manager I worked with for a few years prior agreed to give me a job. Ghosted me a week later.

3) A guy I worked closely with for 2 years later became a medium-sized startup CTO. I asked him for a job. He said yes, then referred me to the hiring manager. Normal interview from there on out.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just to clarify: I'm not complaining. I have no problem going through job interviews to prove myself. But, it would be nice if I could figure out what I'm missing and not have to do that. Maybe it's a difference in reputation? I'm not seen as the hotshot. I'm the go to guy.

[AndyNemmity]

Agreed, well said. I could make a similar list as you did, but it's essentially the same.

VPs, and CTOs most often, informal chat, offer.

[ghaff]

Yeah, the last couple of jobs in particular it wasn't getting a standard referral through the HR system. The first we were clients of a technology analyst firm CEO who I knew quite well and had met and spoken with at many events. The second was someone who had been clients of ours at the consulting company. In the first case, the "interview" was a lunch. In the second, it was a semi-normal hiring process but I talked to the most senior folks, starting with a chat with the product head, first.

Really haven't had a "normal" hiring process since first job out of grad school (shudder) 25 years ago.

Not dev per se but technology role.