Data Engineering Interviews Are Broken (Here's Proof)

I did somewhere around 20 interview loops in a single job search. Phone screens, take-homes, onsites, "culture fits," system design rounds, and yes, the inevitable LeetCode gauntlet. Some went well. Some went laughably poorly. One company had me do eight rounds, told me I passed, said the offer was sent, never sent it, then a new recruiter said I'd declined the offer I never saw. I did four more rounds. Passed again. Headcount was closed. That was a few years ago. It's gotten worse. The data engineering interview process in 2026 is broken in ways that would be funny if people's livelihoods weren't on the line. Experienced engineers are failing screens designed for new grads. Take-home projects have ballooned into unpaid consulting gigs. And the disconnect between what companies test for and what the job actually requires has never been wider. I'm not speculating; I've been on both sides of the table, and the view is ugly from everywhere. The LeetCode Gauntlet Has Nothing to Do With the