Hey everyone, recently I saw a twitter thread on the pros and cons of white board interviews, I was wondering what hashnoders think about the same
I think they are helpful because they meet the best possible area between costing the least amount of resources for getting the best possible talents. It's really all about get the in between. In order to do full application interviews to see a prospect in action, I feel it would be incredibly expensive in both time and money to be able to do that for hundreds of thousands of people.
I did whiteboard coding for my interview at Microsoft. And, I liked the whiteboard experience more than for example pre-screen interviews I had at other companies that are done in a shared document (not a real IDE). Those I find really awkward. Mostly because I cannot see the other person, and then I feel I have to talk when I actually think and so on. For that reason, I like solving problems on a whiteboard more. Purely, because you are in the same room as the other person and it feels more connected. And it can also be nice to have a way to "visually" discuss a problem. Coding on a whiteboard is obviously strange as it happens in a totally different environment as normal. Still, I think the most important aspect is the interviewer. In general, I am very stressed at interviews. And if there isn't a good vibe between the interviewer and me, I feel the interview is doomed anyway. I prefer interviews where the tasks I have to solve are similar to my day-to-day work and they test for the skillset I will need. I imagine the best interview to be just working alongside the interviewer solving real problems together (although I haven't ever been interviewed that way, so maybe it would be horrible ;-) )
hashnode.com/post/whiteboard-programming-intervie…
hashnode.com/post/whiteboard-is-hard-an-interview…
Overall - bad idea. Talking with the interviewee, discussing a problem and how to solve it is much more organic and better for everyone. I would consider whiteboard tests to be obsolete now.
Michaela Greiler
Making Code Reviews Your Superpower
Paul M. Watson
Works with humans and digital technology to solve problems. Say hello. They\them.
I like using whiteboards in the job so getting people up to a whiteboard in an interview is also something I like. Not to write code though, but to expand and show solutions to problems. Draw diagrams, draw wireframes, draw processes etc.