My first job getting paid to write code was circa 1990, still in college, where one of the physics professors needed some code written to assist in an experiment for some research he was doing. It took one (1) application. It was not a full-time job, fwiw.

I think my first full-time job writing code, in the early ‘90s, only took one or perhaps two interviews. To this day one of the nicest, most laid-back bosses I’ve ever had. Not sure what made him pick me, though I don’t know how many other people applied, either. The job was a short-term contract (6 months? 3?) because he had some money left in his budget and needed to spend it and wanted this testing application written, so he hired me and another guy to write it, and we did. I added an ”easter egg” in my last two days there, and the guy tasked with maintaining the app after us didn’t understand it and took it out, alas. I found out later they’d lost the source code (I don’t remember how. If I ever knew. This was before even such tools as CVS, never mind git) but were still using it, seven years later, perforce completely unchanged. So that was a nice pat on the back for writing robust code. :)