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Project my monitor/screen sharing actually works very well. I got an interview in 2006 for Microsoft. I typed my C solution with Notepad via share screen over

Project my monitor/screen sharing actually works very well. I got an interview in 2006 for Microsoft. I typed my C solution with Notepad via share screen over DSL. The code is "to find out the depth of leaf nodes in a binary tree and find out which leaf node is the shallowest/deepest" or something like that. I did that in 20 minutes and return solution to find out depths for all leaf nodes and sorted them by depth. And the interviewer saw how I worked during the session and laughed I was the first one to solve the problem in that way and much better than what they expect. At the other hand, I got interviewed in Amazon around the same time. I completely choked on whiteboard because I did not prepare for session before like that and I still had a jet lag due to lack of sleep during flight in previous night. Then I got another interview in Bloomberg and I complete couldn't write code with pencil and paper. My mind flows when I typed but chokes when I worked on paper/whiteboard. I guess the fluidity of editor is the key. Later when I interview software engineers. I tried to let them to have a computer so they can write code during the session. I feel much better grasp for their potential and habit during the session than whiteboard and pencil paper test.

sanderjd 15y ago
I completely agree about projecting - going to paper and pencil after years of vim just feels absurd - but some people find it more invasive and/or high pressure.
- lutorm 15y ago
  For the people who say they never use a whiteboard: do you never talk about problems with colleagues? When trying to understand the best way of tackling something difficult, I find few things beat a whiteboard session of sketching out possible solutions. I find that writing actual code just obscures things when I'm looking for the method or algorithm to do what I want.
  - eugenejen 15y ago
    I think my experiences with whiteboard effectiveness are limited to 1. Writing down pseudo code for solutions. 2. Diagrams for architectures. 3. Flow charts for possible actions during problem solving. But if you ask me to write down a real program in whiteboard, I find myself starting to got interrupted by thoughts about erase lines, moving blocks around and worrying about my writing is too big and board is too small for my code. I think shared whiteboard is definitely a very good tool for discussions. But for me, even a rudimentary editor like notepad, vi helps me more in handling all rewriting/visualizing/pondering process. Probably I am not those programmers who can write down code without worrying about rewriting them. For me, write a program is like oil painting involving constant changes.

sanderjd 15y ago

I completely agree about projecting - going to paper and pencil after years of vim just feels absurd - but some people find it more invasive and/or high pressure.

lutorm 15y ago
For the people who say they never use a whiteboard: do you never talk about problems with colleagues? When trying to understand the best way of tackling something difficult, I find few things beat a whiteboard session of sketching out possible solutions. I find that writing actual code just obscures things when I'm looking for the method or algorithm to do what I want.
- eugenejen 15y ago
  I think my experiences with whiteboard effectiveness are limited to 1. Writing down pseudo code for solutions. 2. Diagrams for architectures. 3. Flow charts for possible actions during problem solving. But if you ask me to write down a real program in whiteboard, I find myself starting to got interrupted by thoughts about erase lines, moving blocks around and worrying about my writing is too big and board is too small for my code. I think shared whiteboard is definitely a very good tool for discussions. But for me, even a rudimentary editor like notepad, vi helps me more in handling all rewriting/visualizing/pondering process. Probably I am not those programmers who can write down code without worrying about rewriting them. For me, write a program is like oil painting involving constant changes.