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> if you ask me to write quicksort on a whiteboard I'm going to roll my eyes and walk out. Asking people to code a sort in an interview can be very useful as i

> if you ask me to write quicksort on a whiteboard I'm going to roll my eyes and walk out. Asking people to code a sort in an interview can be very useful as it shows whether they can actually code or not. I've had people write horrible code in interviews many times and that is a major indicator that I shouldn't hire them for a coding position.

bryanrasmussen 10y ago
or it's an indicator that they get flustered coding in front of people. I definitely underperform when pair coding, coding on a whiteboard instead of a computer I'm familiar with? Probably not my best work.
- jcadam 10y ago
  I was such a nervous wreck during my first technical interview that I couldn't remember how to write a loop. Seriously. "I need to repeat this sequence of operations an indeterminate number of times... if only there were some programming construct that could help me out here..." So I reached back to my Apple II BASIC days and whipped out the trusty GOTO. The look on the interviewer's face was priceless.
  - Declanomous 10y ago
    I've forgotten how to define a new variable before, as well as legal variable types. I've even forgotten how to write a select statement in SQL before, which is horrifyingly embarrassing in retrospect. I'm not bad at pair programming, but I seem to forget everything I know when asked to recall it in novel contexts. I'm sure I could have typed out a legal select statement if I had a keyboard, but writing it on a whiteboard in front of 4 people I've never met in a location I've never been to before made me forget everything I knew. It really doesn't get much worse than forgetting how to write a select statement.
- bhouston 10y ago
  > or it's an indicator that they get flustered coding in front of people. I definitely underperform when pair coding, coding on a whiteboard instead of a computer I'm familiar with? Probably not my best work. One needs to evaluate people. I would prefer to evaluate people using a metric close to what is required in the job -- coding. If people have issues that they can not be evaluated properly, then what I am supposed to do? Just hire anyone no matter how they do? Of course coding isn't the only metric but it is one of a couple. If you write an algorithm that has indexing errors or no stopping condition or just does't work, it isn't a good thing. I do rely on coding on whiteboards or paper a lot more when it is someone new in their career and do not have many past accomplishments to point to.
  - Wazzymandias 10y ago
    Whiteboard coding isn't really a metric close to what is required in the job though. I like to write my algorithms on paper first before writing code, but doing it on a whiteboard in 45 minutes while explaining my work and checking for edge cases can be a bit unreasonable. I don't think the contention is about testing a programmer's ability, but the way their ability is tested. Personally I think pair programming is a better method of testing someone's ability to code AND their ability to collaborate with others.

bryanrasmussen 10y ago

or it's an indicator that they get flustered coding in front of people. I definitely underperform when pair coding, coding on a whiteboard instead of a computer I'm familiar with? Probably not my best work.

jcadam 10y ago
I was such a nervous wreck during my first technical interview that I couldn't remember how to write a loop. Seriously. "I need to repeat this sequence of operations an indeterminate number of times... if only there were some programming construct that could help me out here..." So I reached back to my Apple II BASIC days and whipped out the trusty GOTO. The look on the interviewer's face was priceless.
- Declanomous 10y ago
  I've forgotten how to define a new variable before, as well as legal variable types. I've even forgotten how to write a select statement in SQL before, which is horrifyingly embarrassing in retrospect. I'm not bad at pair programming, but I seem to forget everything I know when asked to recall it in novel contexts. I'm sure I could have typed out a legal select statement if I had a keyboard, but writing it on a whiteboard in front of 4 people I've never met in a location I've never been to before made me forget everything I knew. It really doesn't get much worse than forgetting how to write a select statement.
bhouston 10y ago
> or it's an indicator that they get flustered coding in front of people. I definitely underperform when pair coding, coding on a whiteboard instead of a computer I'm familiar with? Probably not my best work. One needs to evaluate people. I would prefer to evaluate people using a metric close to what is required in the job -- coding. If people have issues that they can not be evaluated properly, then what I am supposed to do? Just hire anyone no matter how they do? Of course coding isn't the only metric but it is one of a couple. If you write an algorithm that has indexing errors or no stopping condition or just does't work, it isn't a good thing. I do rely on coding on whiteboards or paper a lot more when it is someone new in their career and do not have many past accomplishments to point to.
- Wazzymandias 10y ago
  Whiteboard coding isn't really a metric close to what is required in the job though. I like to write my algorithms on paper first before writing code, but doing it on a whiteboard in 45 minutes while explaining my work and checking for edge cases can be a bit unreasonable. I don't think the contention is about testing a programmer's ability, but the way their ability is tested. Personally I think pair programming is a better method of testing someone's ability to code AND their ability to collaborate with others.