This is not common, much less the norm, for programmers. It might be the case in small startups, and it might be the case in other outliers, but not in typical companies. Even the most strong referrals are at best a foot in the door and a leg up over other candidates. Referrals still have to go through the same interview process, and potentially be rejected.
Your mileage may vary. I haven't interviewed for a job since 2005. The three f/t jobs I had before that I had to interview for, but I was the only candidate they considered (because of professional connection). The other interviews were required to comply with HR policies (apologies to the candidates who didn't really have a chance).
I don't think my experience is unique or even unusual. I have hired friends and former colleagues with only pro forma interviews because I already knew what they could do. I've been hired the same way. At almost every place I worked other people there got their jobs through a connection.
Maybe the difference is I know quite a few people who have hiring authority, possibly as a function of my age.
I stopped working f/t jobs in 2011, have freelanced full-time since then. I don't interview or submit proposals for freelance jobs either. Usually I'm the only consultant the company is talking to, the others waste time on discovery and proposals and "process" whereas I'm ready to get to work right now.
You are what is called an "outlier". Your experience is so far from typical as to be irrelevant to anyone looking for full-time employment work. You experience isn't unique but it is very much unusual.
Anecdotally I don’t think so, but I don’t have any numbers. I’ve had quite a few jobs in 40 years working as a programmer. I believe around half of the people I’ve worked with got their job through the side door rather than through a formal application process. Sometimes the side door was a connected recruiter, but more often it was through a past work relationship or friend-of-a-friend. I can’t remember ever getting a job myself by sending in applications, though I have gone through interviews.
I suppose a lot depends on where you want to work.
Regardless, my main point is not to overlook contacts and former colleagues. I think going through the front door with applications is the last resort, not the first or best approach. There’s a book called Who’s Hiring Who? that I found useful a long time ago.
This. With the exception of super early stage startups that could easily go belly up fast, or small mom&pop shops, networks and connections are most likely to only get you to an leetcode phone screen. From then on, you're just going to traverse the leetcode whiteboard interview gauntlet like any other candidate.
I have a friend/ex-colleague that I would describe as a "master networker". He has a huge network including some pretty senior executives at various NYC hedge funds, and even a billionaire or two. I kid you not in that he can literally make a few calls and get a "developer job" at a hedge fund.
The downside is that he has to be extremely unpicky and be willing to settle for very unsexy jobs like shuffling XML feed files using SSIS or working with Excel VBA or legacy ASP.NET Webforms code, etc. But all of them still pay very well, so...
