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Might be worth clarifying whether this is “don’t use a whiteboard during interviews” or “don’t ask candidates to code obscure algorithms” on a whiteboard. We u
by danpalmer 9y ago
Might be worth clarifying whether this is “don’t use a whiteboard during interviews” or “don’t ask candidates to code obscure algorithms” on a whiteboard.
We use a whiteboard in our interviews for sketching UI, and sometimes drawing a database table. Generally candidates find this much easier than talking through their design, and we think that interview very closely represents what we do on a day to day basis.
- gtaylor 9y agoI really like them for Infrastructure or systems diagrams, too!
- mikepurvis 9y agoYeah, that's key. "Explain how your piece fit into the bigger picture— what other things does it talk to, how tightly are they coupled, how are errors propagated, etc."
- jakelazaroff 9y agoThere was a good article that popped up on here a couple months ago about this: "Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry". [1] If you're asking candidates to balance a binary search tree when no one in the history of your company has ever had to do that, you're asking the wrong questions. [1] http://prog21.dadgum.com/177.html http://prog21.dadgum.com/177.html
- danpalmer 9y agoYep. Which is why we don’t. We do a mock technical meeting with multiple members of our tech team and the candidate presenting options, talking through pros and cons, etc. Much of the interview is about assessing communication rather than technical skills. The interview is basically a standard tech meeting that we hold regularly in the team to discuss designs of new projects.
- jakelazaroff 9y agoSorry — that comment was meant in support of yours, with the "you" being generic :)
- billysielu 9y agoI thought it was "you won't have to use a whiteboard at this workplace" lol.
- koibhi 9y agoThe trend of whiteboard interviews is quite catching up.
- odammit 9y agoI agree. Obscure “I had to google it before asking you” problems are the problem not the whiteboard. I think whiteboards are good visual aides. Sometimes I just ask people to draw a frog though.
- danpalmer 9y agoWe often draw hats and shirts, but we do that but not the candidate. That happens to be related to our domain.
- smoe 9y agoAgreed, whiteboard are way too useful to leave out. That's why we have them in every room in the office, not to scare candidates when we happen to conduct interviews in them. In my opinion it is all about aligning your questions with the day to day task you expect from people. If the work is very algorithm heavy, by all means probe for that in the interview. I base my interviews around one main question: assume the tech challenge you written beforehand is a prototype for a complete product/service. what are the steps necessary to get us there and beyond? I do not care about the candidates tech preferences or the exact solution as long as the argument for it is coherent and not just based on heresay. Then I probe for a couple of things within their solution where I see potential weaknesses based on their argument, experience or code in relation what we look for. It is more about problem solving, decision making and communication than computer science. Candidates are free to just talk trought it or use whiteboard/paper to draw it out. But if you choose the former you better not forgett what you said five minutes ago.
- bbischof 9y agoI feel like it’s ok to just say “you dont have to do programming on a analog device”; if they want to write on paper/whiteboard/with a tattoo gun I don't give a damn, but they wont be asked to write actual code. That’s what it means to me.