Senior/Staff engineers struggle to prepare for modern technical interviews after career breaks

Experienced full-stack engineers returning to job market after freelancing or sabbaticals face uncertainty about what interview processes now demand, especially regarding the relevance of traditional algorithm problems versus new skill expectations around AI/agentic development and system architecture. They lack current, specific guidance on what companies actually test for at senior levels, forcing them to either over-prepare on outdated skills or guess wrong about interview focus areas.