Here are some things I've done recently that seemed useful: 1) Rather than ask them to code something, give them some code and have them review it. I opened up

Here are some things I've done recently that seemed useful: 1) Rather than ask them to code something, give them some code and have them review it. I opened up a browser and went to code review.stackexchange.com and picked one in the interviewee's favorite language. 2) Have them show you code they've written. It doesn't have to be from their current job, which would probably violate their employment agreement, but they've probably written some side projects for fun, or worked on some open source, or something. 3) Discuss problems they've actually solved and how they approached it. What did they try that didn't work? Why did they choose the solution they did? Did they consider anything but not try it? If so why didn't they try it? That way you're not testing their ability to write unrealistic code (who writes their own linked list?) under ridiculous time pressure (less than 1 hour); you're not bringing on test-trauma that wouldn't affect them in their real job, etc.