We do a simple programming test too, but we do after a phone screen and after we decided to invite you to come in. It's simply part of the 1/2-1 day interview t

We do a simple programming test too, but we do after a phone screen and after we decided to invite you to come in. It's simply part of the 1/2-1 day interview that we do. You get 2 hours, a problem that doesn't take more than 30-60 mins to solve, and an internet connection in case you want to look something up. I agree with other posters here that a very simple problems weeds out a large chunk of the inept folks. We had people just sit in that room for two hours and all they did was remove some lines from the skeleton that we have them. Or people who just left this simple exercise and went home. I disagree with others about doing it life via a shared session. Programming and thinking is a private affair (IMHO), there is some exploration component in it. Nobody will want to explore in front of a panel. In the end we don't even look at the test unless there is disagreement between the interviewers, or we identified a specific concern about problem solving.