I'm 37 and being working as a coder since 21. I still need to apply to job ads and go through the tests. Not all have whiteboard but most have a puzzle. I don't begrudge 2 hours which is the usual time, but I'd probably reject whole day tests.
I don't tend to stay friends with people for the sake of "having connections" but usually just to be friends. That means I don't have a big network to draw upon. There are so many advertised opportunities I'd miss out on if I said only get jobs through a network.
Some of my work I get through my network, for sure. But I'm picky about what I work on which means that I will often do business development for myself and actively cold call/hustle to scare up work in the area I prefer to be in. Strange for a dev, I know, but it's definitely been worth it for me.
I also like to take a lot of time off between contracts to give myself time to pursue non-dev activities and finding the right balance is hard without actively developing my clients.
For instance I'm finishing up a contract right now that was a green field build-out of a brand new product using Elixir. The only way to find that stuff (unless you're lucky) is to go out and dig it up.
I'm 37 and being working as a coder since 21. I still need to apply to job ads and go through the tests. Not all have whiteboard but most have a puzzle. I don't begrudge 2 hours which is the usual time, but I'd probably reject whole day tests.
I don't tend to stay friends with people for the sake of "having connections" but usually just to be friends. That means I don't have a big network to draw upon. There are so many advertised opportunities I'd miss out on if I said only get jobs through a network.