Re:Why we don't hire programmers based on puzzles and tricks
by sanderjd on Friday February 22, 2013 @08:42PM
(#5268116)
In my experience:
- No
- Yes
- You have to put other things on hold and come up with something non-stop code worthy, which may be frustrating.
There's a solution I like though - work on a known bug or new feature in some open source project, potentially of the candidate's choosing, but preferably not one either the candidate or interviewer is already a major contributor to. That way both people come to the problem with a similar low level of expertise and have to work together to come up to speed (which is a great real-work-like exercise). It also makes it obvious what to work non-stop on for that time. Bonus points for being way more useful than a make-work wheel reinvention project and for not being free work for the interviewer's company.
- No - Yes - You have to put other things on hold and come up with something non-stop code worthy, which may be frustrating.
There's a solution I like though - work on a known bug or new feature in some open source project, potentially of the candidate's choosing, but preferably not one either the candidate or interviewer is already a major contributor to. That way both people come to the problem with a similar low level of expertise and have to work together to come up to speed (which is a great real-work-like exercise). It also makes it obvious what to work non-stop on for that time. Bonus points for being way more useful than a make-work wheel reinvention project and for not being free work for the interviewer's company.