[bootsz]

I agree that there is no "perfect" interview process, but I have seen from experience that there are ways to go about it that reduce the crappiness for both sides, beyond what a lot of "top" companies are currently doing.

How about sticking with standard phone-screen/on-site process, but emphasizing writing real code, on a computer, solving realistic software engineering problems? I've interviewed at several companies (including one of the "big four") that took this approach and found it was the best overall balance IMO. You get evaluated in a more realistic setting than a whiteboarding interview, but takes the same amount of time an also doesn't depend on "side-projects" or "take-home" assignments.

Some general examples from my own experience:

- Here's a poorly-written / buggy program: Find the bugs and do some refactoring

- Here's a loose spec for a small program: Spend an hour designing & coding it up (on your own, no one looking over your shoulder the whole time), and then walk through it with the interviewer AFTERWARD and explain your design / answer their questions about it.