Are you asking me? That is the interview process regardless of experience, as I said we interview a lot of candidates with a Math background. These people that don't know how to program even a single line of code in any language get the same questions (obviously skipping things like reviewing C++ code for me leaks) - if they are good at solving logical problems and understand concepts of complexity, scalability and the math behind things like optimization then they are in good standing to become great engineers.
Remember, the concept of programming actually comes form mathematical techniques. Algorithms like Dynamic Programming, linear Programming, MILP, etc. existed before computers were invented, the programming refers to the technique, nothing to od with software.
Our company does not easily consider experience directly. Most candidates are recent graduates. Learning to program in a particular language and learning the necessary tools is easy. Being smart and good at solving problems, determined, hard working cannot be learned. We hire based on ability and potential, not the fact you sat in an office being bored for 10 years in a soulless software engineering job. The more experience you have the harder the interview process will be because the higher the expectations, and the higher the paycheck so the benefit has to be there.
Experience is really over appreciated. Someone with 1 year experience may be for more knowledgeable and have greater potential than someone who did the same stuff for 10 years who does not have the ability to learn new techniques.
Companies are interested in smart, adaptable, dynamic, hardworking, motivated people. people that can quickly solve problems, hit the road running, can learn new tools, techniques, software and languages on the go in order to best solve a problem. Experience doesn't add anything much to that.
Also a lot of the best programmers wont be so experienced because one they reach a certain experience level they tend to do things like create their own startup, move into more senior management or CTO type postilion. This is actually well known across industries, someone who has been doing the same job for 10 years may simply not be capable enough of progressing. The very talented smart ones will have moved on up the corporate ladder to new challenges. That is a generalization, some people love the job they are doing and aren't motivated to progress careers.
