3 ms·

I've asked this of recruiters before... Instead of flying me in to do a full day of white-board technical interviews, why not just give me a short project and s

• mfringel 15y ago
  If one works in complete isolation from other developers, then doing a "hand them a project, see what they produce" assignment would be a perfect way of measuring ability. There are certainly cases where that is true, but my experience leads me to believe that they are the marked exception, and not the rule.
• objclxt 15y ago
  I have done this before, with some success - however, I think you might be missing the point slightly of a white-board interview. Yes, one purpose is to assess your coding ability, which you're right to say a short project could achieve. Another is to assess your ability to brainstorm and talk people through your ideas. If it was about coding ability alone you wouldn't need the whiteboard - you could just be sat in front of a computer. I can think of several people I've interviewed who have produced very good code, but have lacked the social skills required to integrate with a large team - even working remotely. So I don't think the solution is quite as easy as you think.
  • jebblue 15y ago
    I do really badly when placed in front of a white board and am asked to code. This is a ridiculous concept, imaging taking Anthony Bourdain into a room and telling them to use the whiteboard to describe a tough cooking challenge.
  • lrobb 15y ago
    Your take on the whiteboard is interesting, and I can definitely see value in that. Of all the interviews I've been on however, it wasn't about brainstorming at all. It was a test to see how well you knew your data structures / algorithms. Examples: Solve a variation of the 8 queens problem; Determine if a graph is acyclic; etc...
• devs1010 15y ago
  some companies just want an ass in a seat and giving you a remote project doesn't accomplish this.