> I have never shared code or given references before a job offer and I never will.
Yes, I think our concerns are different than the OP's.
A scenario that has played out for me is that I get an e-mail or call from a headhunter. They want to send my resume to a company. The company likes my resume so I get an interview. Right away they want three (or sometimes more) references. Often they say they prefer, or even require, that they be managers. Obviously this means I have to contact my former managers and co-workers. I have to make sure I still have current contact info for them for one thing. I also want to give them a heads-up that someone might be calling them for a reference.
Perhaps I'm not asking for a big favor but I'm still asking for a favor. So every time I go on a job interview, I have to ask several people I know for a favor. Some of whom I might not have had much contact with in the subsequent years. Then I have to contact them out of the blue and ask them if they can give me a reference (I usually do keep in contact with people, but don't want every other contact being me asking for a reference or a favor).
Like you, I think it's understandable if the company is about to offer me the job and as a last step want to get some references. But I have people telling me they want to talk to my former managers before I've even had an in-person interview.
Compared with this, someone grilling me on data structures, or paging, or TCP/IP behavior, or whatever is pretty minor.
Yes, I think our concerns are different than the OP's.
A scenario that has played out for me is that I get an e-mail or call from a headhunter. They want to send my resume to a company. The company likes my resume so I get an interview. Right away they want three (or sometimes more) references. Often they say they prefer, or even require, that they be managers. Obviously this means I have to contact my former managers and co-workers. I have to make sure I still have current contact info for them for one thing. I also want to give them a heads-up that someone might be calling them for a reference.
Perhaps I'm not asking for a big favor but I'm still asking for a favor. So every time I go on a job interview, I have to ask several people I know for a favor. Some of whom I might not have had much contact with in the subsequent years. Then I have to contact them out of the blue and ask them if they can give me a reference (I usually do keep in contact with people, but don't want every other contact being me asking for a reference or a favor).
Like you, I think it's understandable if the company is about to offer me the job and as a last step want to get some references. But I have people telling me they want to talk to my former managers before I've even had an in-person interview.
Compared with this, someone grilling me on data structures, or paging, or TCP/IP behavior, or whatever is pretty minor.