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I disagree completely about your theory. I have been on both ends of the whiteboard interview an almost uncountable time during my career. What it has always

I disagree completely about your theory. I have been on both ends of the whiteboard interview an almost uncountable time during my career. What it has always come down to in my mind is a collaborative process to solve a problem where the one performing the task is trying to solve the problem, while the giver of the task makes suggestions and points out weaknesses before they get out of control. I'm sure there are sadists who just want to watch people squirm while trying to solve an extremely complicated problem, but I don't think I've ever run into that in an interview and it has never been what I've put people through.

paulkon 7y ago
In that case, why use a whiteboard instead of a collaborative text editor like coderpad, repl.it, or even gnu screen? Testing in an environment completely different from 'production' isn't going to give a super strong signal on collaborative problem solving imo.
sarbaz 7y ago
> it has never been what I've put people through. How can you tell? Is this always based on how you experienced the interview, or do you ask candidates afterwards how they felt? (no insult intended, but) you made an empirical statement, and I'm curious where your evidence is from.
mancerayder 7y ago
I've had whiteboard interviews where the interviewer stays silent while taking notes. I failed 100% of them with various, strangely random feedback by HR/recruiter. I've come to conclude it's the hiring mechanism of social incompetents / unempathetic sciency types. And it was always a dev from another group than the one I was applying for. No thanks.
lemony_fresh 7y ago
Would you allow junior developers to whiteboard a highly qualified and accomplished CTO candidate? No. It is acceptable for peers who will be competing with the candidate in the promotions tournament or the hiring managers to conduct whiteboarding exercises.

paulkon 7y ago

In that case, why use a whiteboard instead of a collaborative text editor like coderpad, repl.it, or even gnu screen? Testing in an environment completely different from 'production' isn't going to give a super strong signal on collaborative problem solving imo.

sarbaz 7y ago

> it has never been what I've put people through. How can you tell? Is this always based on how you experienced the interview, or do you ask candidates afterwards how they felt? (no insult intended, but) you made an empirical statement, and I'm curious where your evidence is from.

mancerayder 7y ago

I've had whiteboard interviews where the interviewer stays silent while taking notes. I failed 100% of them with various, strangely random feedback by HR/recruiter. I've come to conclude it's the hiring mechanism of social incompetents / unempathetic sciency types. And it was always a dev from another group than the one I was applying for. No thanks.

lemony_fresh 7y ago

Would you allow junior developers to whiteboard a highly qualified and accomplished CTO candidate? No. It is acceptable for peers who will be competing with the candidate in the promotions tournament or the hiring managers to conduct whiteboarding exercises.