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> or have somehow entered into an alternate fairytale land where everyone is honest This won't likely be a popular answer, but more likely than what you descri

> or have somehow entered into an alternate fairytale land where everyone is honest This won't likely be a popular answer, but more likely than what you described above is simply that you don't know how to weed out the bullshit a candidate might spew without shoving a code editor or dry erase marker in their hand. It's perfectly understandable that many don't have this skill as it's rarely ever taught before you start doing interviews at an employer.

paulddraper 9y ago
> you don't know how to weed out the bullshit a candidate might spew without shoving a code editor or dry erase marker in their hand I'm sure we could figure out a non-code non-marker way. I'm also sure I could figure out a commute involving only right turns. But why would I arbitraily constrain my solution like that?
- jsjohnst 9y ago
  Continuing your strained analogy, so because you didn't want to make only right turns, everyone else should spend an extra 10min in traffic each morning? The reason to "constrain your solution" is to not rule out very capable candidates who have "stage fright" and not offend other very capable candidates who take offense to your crappy brain teaser problems that don't actually reflect anything they'd do in their real job.
  - paulddraper 9y ago
    > don't actually reflect anything they'd do in their real job I should hope the coding exercise would reflect what they would be doing! Finding logic bugs, munging data, using appropriate data structures, recognizing recursion, etc. If coding isn't a significant portion of the job (researcher, manager, etc.) then yeah, don't put it in the interview.
    - jsjohnst 9y ago
      > I should hope the coding exercise would reflect what they would be doing! Sadly, I have not found this to be the case almost anywhere I have worked or interviewed (seems to be especially relevant the bigger the company is).
srean 9y ago
Being particularly gullible, I sure would appreciate tips on how to weed out the lies.

paulddraper 9y ago

> you don't know how to weed out the bullshit a candidate might spew without shoving a code editor or dry erase marker in their hand I'm sure we could figure out a non-code non-marker way. I'm also sure I could figure out a commute involving only right turns. But why would I arbitraily constrain my solution like that?

jsjohnst 9y ago
Continuing your strained analogy, so because you didn't want to make only right turns, everyone else should spend an extra 10min in traffic each morning? The reason to "constrain your solution" is to not rule out very capable candidates who have "stage fright" and not offend other very capable candidates who take offense to your crappy brain teaser problems that don't actually reflect anything they'd do in their real job.
- paulddraper 9y ago
  > don't actually reflect anything they'd do in their real job I should hope the coding exercise would reflect what they would be doing! Finding logic bugs, munging data, using appropriate data structures, recognizing recursion, etc. If coding isn't a significant portion of the job (researcher, manager, etc.) then yeah, don't put it in the interview.
  - jsjohnst 9y ago
    > I should hope the coding exercise would reflect what they would be doing! Sadly, I have not found this to be the case almost anywhere I have worked or interviewed (seems to be especially relevant the bigger the company is).

srean 9y ago

Being particularly gullible, I sure would appreciate tips on how to weed out the lies.