Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay?

Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by teachrdan on Thursday August 09, 2018 @03:09PM (#17727425)

There's some logic to that. It's the one of the same reasons we have high stakes exams in school: to show what the individual can do under pressure. In an interview setting you can't simulate what it's like to be at the end of a high-intensity sprint, but you can ask the candidate to answer a tough question on a whiteboard and (ideally) get a notion of how they work when the going gets tough.

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by jriot on Thursday August 09, 2018 @03:28PM (#17727624)

As a former air traffic controller and now data scientist, nothing in this career field is ever done under any real pressure.

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by java-man on Thursday August 09, 2018 @04:47PM (#17728343)

tremendous respect to air traffic controllers. i cannot imagine the level of professionalism and responsibility these people must have! no amount of monetary compensation is enough, in my opinion.

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by jriot on Thursday August 09, 2018 @11:37PM (#17730517)

Thanks. While everything you said is true, its also a hell of rush. Hardest part of changing careers ... no rush with a daily dose of dopamine.

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by dylanrw on Thursday August 09, 2018 @03:36PM (#17727703)

But what about that one time on Swordfish!? /s

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by romaniv on Thursday August 09, 2018 @03:35PM (#17727691)

The pressure of a whiteboard interview has nothing in common with the pressure of a short deadline. It's like testing people for Tour de France by putting them on a unicycle.

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by ztjio on Thursday August 09, 2018 @06:38PM (#17729167)

Now there's a prologue I'd actually watch.

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by LaserToy on Thursday August 09, 2018 @09:38PM (#17730054)

And what is it measuring exactly? In real life you don’t get the score. You either did it or not. Nobody cares about how you did it, only answer matters.

And interviews are not pressuring, they are simple. No hard desisions, no anxiety whether it is going to work. You in and 5 hours later you out. Lame.

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Re:Engineering whiteboard interviews: yay or nay? by java-man on Thursday August 09, 2018 @04:00PM (#17727955)

unless the job requires whiteboard coding, you are not testing for the job.

an advice to candidate: when you've been asked to do whiteboard coding - run away. this is a negative signal.

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