[AndreyErmakov]

So we all realize technical interviews serve no practical purpose and should be quietly abandoned, but instead of looking into the future and discovering better ways of identifying talent, people keep inventing stuff that makes the torturing mechanism even more sophisticated so that the suffering can be prolonged.

I'd like to see the people behind this project apply their technical skills to something more useful to the industry and the society in general.

>> to get to pipeline parity, we actually have to increase the number of women studying computer science by an entire order of magnitude

Any woman who's gone through that process will likely want to get another career, that where people are treated with more respect. And I suppose many men are having the exact same thoughts.

The more you mock your talent pool, the more actively that talent is running in the opposite direction, just to get out of this mess.

[crusso]

So we all realize technical interviews serve no practical purpose and should be quietly abandoned

We don't really know that at all. Technical interviews are an invaluable tool in finding people who can write software and be collaborative co-workers.

A lot of software developers on the receiving end don't like them. Part of that is because a good technical interview pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to show that you can think through problems. Not all developers appreciate being taken out of their comfort zone.

The other part of the problem is that some technical interviews are conducted clumsily. "Code FizzBuzz, go!" As with the rest of the interview, skill of the interviewer matters.

[AndreyErmakov]

What is the point of pushing people out of their comfort zone? Practical software engineering doesn't happen when you're uncomfortable. Discovering quality solutions requires concentration and immersion into problems.

[crusso]

YMMV, but I've always worked in service-oriented development organizations for startups or companies that behaved like startups on the development side. Pressure comes with the territory and I'd rather know how potential colleagues behave with a small amount of interview pressure before being stuck with a veritable basket case in a real-world high-pressure situation.

I had a guy freak out walking through a simple algorithm in java at the white board in an interview. Maybe he was the best developer ever if he were put in a quiet dark room and never made eye contact with anyone. Given that we had other candidates who could actually interact calmly and intelligently in an interview/collaborative situation, we weren't going to go with the guy that freaked out.

[MustardTiger]

Why do people in tech think "proving you can do your job" is unique to tech? Tons of industrues has practical interviews. Do you really think a roofer shows up and says "I know what I am doing, just take me on my word" and gets a job?

[MustardTiger]

throwaway_xx9 I don't know why your post is dead, but your example is obviously silly. That is not applying for a job, that is contracting to an individual. You don't face a technical interview contracting to an individual in programming either. But if you apply for a job as a roofer with a construction company, you absolutely have a practical interview.