We can all agree that there are different kinds of programming. There are some really hard problems out there that need to be solved. There's also the kind of p

We can all agree that there are different kinds of programming. There are some really hard problems out there that need to be solved. There's also the kind of programming that's a matter of getting users to interact with data. When it comes to web application development (my background), I think puzzles aren't the right way to approach the interview. To be honest, it shouldn't be the job of the company to find out what the interviewee does and doesn't know. It's the duty of the applicant to control the interview, come in with their laptop blazing, and start walking through building a web application from scratch or to show off something they are building, talk about the decisions that were made through the process and why.