I think it’s some form of discrimination because I’m a highly competent and skilled engineer, but I seem to always flop in interviews either because I don’t appear genuinely interested in the work, aren’t actively trying to suck corporate dick, or despise doing coding interviews that have nothing to do with the job while answering all sorts of fucking hypotheticals which I ace just fine. I think I may be slightly autistic as well (not to discriminate those that are confirmed to be). I can do the work, and in exchange all they have to do is pay me fairly, yet they always do some bait and switch (which appears to be called silent hiring recently) where they instead offer a contract role instead of a full time position, switch remote to hybrid (and require relocation), and offer a lower comp or just ghost me altogether. I’ve worked at some pretty good places and have a large portfolio of game mods and projects I’ve worked on that are quite successful, but for some reason nobody wants to hire or pay me what I’m worth, and I’ve even applied to places I know I’m overqualified for and have controlled the interviews entirely due to my career seniority. “Nobody wants to work!” Don’t give me that shit: nobody wants to pay!
I wonder if it’d be feasible to take multiple entry level jobs, pretend to be a newbie, and combine the salaries into something far greater than a single senior role. Granted, if said companies don’t have rules against moonlighting.