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I usually chat with a candidate about past experience or coursework. Sometimes I do a high level problem (no coding on the whiteboard, just chatting), to gauge

I usually chat with a candidate about past experience or coursework. Sometimes I do a high level problem (no coding on the whiteboard, just chatting), to gauge his skills of looking at a problem. We also have a programming test. Everybody is subjected to it. In the beginning (when I had to do it :) ), thought it was stupid, but now I find this a valuable tool to aid with the decision (we frequently hire people who did not finish the test). The problems are relatively simple. You get 2 hours alone in a room, a programming language of your choice, and internet connection (so you can search for stuff).

Ugarte 16y ago
Re: past experience, I agree, but this is harder for college hires. It's not unreasonable for a student to have only taken the standard courses and done nothing especially interesting. I could ask about his job writing PHP or what he thinks of Compilers, but really, there's not a huge amount of depth there. As for programming tests, I think you're playing into my bias about how everyone thinks the questions are stupid until they pass, at which point the questions become the arbiter of all intelligence and merit. ;) It's that sort of hazing ritual sociology that enshrines questions about moving Mt. Fuji or printing n to the power of 100 in decimal form.