Don't you think that it's possible that becoming a full MD doctor is a qualifications vouching system that programming lacks, and thus it's "every company for themselves" in terms of deciding who is actually qualified/worth hiring?

The amount of sub-par candidates that are nearly constantly looking is absolutely appalling to me, and is probably shocking to most of the non-hiring-managers reading HN.

Why is the interview process so intensive? Same reason gold mining is intensive. There's a lot more dirt than gold in both cases.