Citrix gave me a page of code which had a lot of tricky obfuscated syntax problems. Code that looked live but was actually commented out, nested comments that w

Citrix gave me a page of code which had a lot of tricky obfuscated syntax problems. Code that looked live but was actually commented out, nested comments that were not terminated properly, code formatted in a very deceptive way, strings that were not quoted correctly so they would not end where expected on the page. It was all very contrived stuff that was deliberately deceptive, not like real broken code, and the errors would have shown up with syntax highlighting. I caught most but not all of the tricks. This is also the only interview I have ever had where a panel of engineers stood behind a desk and all barked questions at me. I did not get the job. At a different interview, this one with Microsoft, the lead engineer showed me a page of actual code from their app and asked me what I thought. Luckily the bug instantly leaped off the page to me, although many people would not see it. That was a good way of proving that I have a useful ability, and a better use of time than whiteboard coding or quizzes. I got the job and they were glad they hired me.