I'm a "software engineer", but I know a plenty of other "software engineers" who know less about TCP/IP than IT people I know. What about being a SWE makes you feel more suited for the job?
In an hour you can go over only a finite amount of knowledge, I was asked about aspects of technology I knew very little about because I hadn't tried anything in that space (FWIW it was a segment of networking). To pass over candidates based on a minuet lack of detailed knowledge - to me is crazy.
It's like interviewing a builder and asking them if they know where the majority of local maple wood comes from. Who cares, and if you need to know - Google it! Great, now you know more than you ever needed about the local maple industry!
YMMV, sample size 1, etc
Conferences are great for networking and entertaining. They're not great for learning new stuff, there's much better media out there. I'm not sure what your gripes are with it.
We like software engineers because they can synthesize complex software architectures, whereas someone with only networking knowledge will be at a much larger knowledge deficit on most software focused assessments.
Infosec has trended toward application focused security for many years now.