I always use normalization/database design as an interview question. I firmly believe that good questions about database design can really identify the candidat

I always use normalization/database design as an interview question. I firmly believe that good questions about database design can really identify the candidate's skills and weaknesses in this area: - it works well sitting around a whiteboard, which is a nice friendly dynamic that emulates how we really work - it doesn't require detailed/arcane recollection of specifics, is more conceptual. Who wants to fail someone because they don't remember a parameter or some specific details of how TreeMaps work? - it can't be faked - no-one can talk their way through a database design discussion unless they really have an aptitude for it - its interesting. Who doesn't want to spitball around, say, modelling what Uber's database might look like behind the scenes. I would say there are plenty of decent programmers around who can't (or haven't) done any real database design work, but if its a core skill (SaaS app development) that you really need, then its an easy one to detect at interview.