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 doin

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.