I was job hunting recently and I can confirm this. Work as a developer at a previous company is better than work in the open (side project) and work in the open is better than work you can't show, and some experience is better than no experience (but having raw intelligence, willingness to learn, enthusiasm).

Then, even if the work is in the open you have to sell it to them. At one interview I didn't feel very well so I couldn't do this. But the website was on their laptop and they could have try to use it a bit. Instead they relied on questions.

Then you have the not-so-smart but with experience developer that never changed jobs and so they are now team lead etc. They ask you "how long will it take you to learn X". You say "2 months". Their reaction is "this guy is bullshiting me, I've spent 2 years learning this thing, how could anybody else learn it faster?"

Then there are the guys asking question google could answer for you. But because you don't know the answer they don't give you "the points".

After all this, they turn around and complain about how hard it is to find talent.

I'm from Eastern Europe.