[iamnafets]

Similar in magnitude to the lost productivity of people optimizing for appearances rather than results at work. All prep is basically an arbitrage between the hard work of actually becoming better and the often easier work of preparation.

The ideal system would minimize this arbitrage, both for the sake of employers and candidates alike.

[AlotOfReading]

I'm not sure it's a given that prep is an alternative to the hard work of becoming better. Imagine a hypothetical office job with bench press round. Improving your job skills wouldn't be the way to pass it, going to the gym would.

That's obviously an extreme hypothetical to illustrate the point, but it's along the same lines as common criticisms of e.g. leetcode and c-suite interview processes.

[iamnafets]

Definitely. Much of it _isn't_. But the parent comment was referring to the waste of the process, which is necessarily the part that isn't directly useful in the job.