Coder hubris
Why are so many “engineers” arrogant know-it-alls under the illusion that what we do is hard? The whole culture of LC and brain teasers is ridiculous. I guess it’s an attempt to create an aura of difficulty to an otherwise prosaic career. What kind of hard problem is “Uber for dogs” actually solving?
Ego issue, but only until they themselves get laid off.
Or sometimes until they just get laid. Source: I've worked with people like this, and seriously wanted to send a gift basket to their girlfriends for taking one for the team, even though they aren't even on our team. (But I knew I couldn't say why I'd send a gift basket without causing issues, and didn't want to look like I was hitting on them.) No idea what the women were getting out of it, even if they were just in it for the money, these dudes weren't making nearly enough to make it worth the effort.
If coding was easy there wouldn’t be so much god awful code. That said I 100% agree with the rest of your point.
Speaking as a former coder, I know it's very easy. We just have a ton of extremely lazy people churning out garbage, and they are being rewarded for it.
Anyone can write a novel, not everyone can write a good novel. Everyone thinks their novel is great, that doesn’t mean writing a novel is easy.
Consumerism
I don't get the point of fitting hard questions into a small time slot either. Does it actually give a good signal? I'd rather ask them to solve a problem similar to what they'll be working on and see if I could work with that person.
"I like programming and think I do a good job at it" - is that an arrogant know-it-all in your opinion?
Give any code donkey a high TC and they’ll develop an ego.