[confidantlake]

As others have mentioned, live coding an unfamiliar problem on a whiteboard in front of strangers with a job on the line is very different from the typical day to day interactions in most dev jobs. The social skills needed for a sales engineer are different than those needed for a developer.

I would say that being able to understand other people's perspective is more important than comfort in high stress situations with strangers. So if someone didn't have anxiety himself, I would expect him to be able to understand how it affects others when it is explained to him. If he refuses to listen and insists it just lack of social skills on the part of those with anxiety, I would conclude he lacks the social skills necessary to work with a diverse group of people.

[nawgz]

So, because some people have anxiety, we should abandon all types of interviewing that look for signal wrt someone's social & communication skills?

I expect anxiety to impact some people, and I expect stupidity to impact a whole lot more. Should I drop the technical interviews, because the stupid people find them extremely stressful? Should I take the assertion of every person with social anxiety that in a job interview they can't perform, but in every other situation a job presents them with they'll be just fine?

I'm sorry, but candidates being able to stand up, think thru a problem, discuss the merits of their solution, and explore the tradespace of other solutions is not a skill just for "sales" people. It's basic collaboration skills.

PS: I used to have heavy social anxiety and impostor syndrome. Those things were terribly unfun, but I openly recognize I frequently caused awkward situations, often failed to speak up when I should've, and was less open to sharing of ideas and code for fear of emotional harm. I spent extensive time to work on my social skills & technical ability, and now I don't feel those things anymore. I am also much more socially capable, open about sharing, willing to speak up in any given situation, and obviously technically stronger from studying.

Please fuck off with speaking down to me. "live coding is very different from the typical day to day interactions". So is the whole fucking interview, which is why I'm waiting for someone to explain to me how whiteboarding is somehow so much more unfairly stressful than all the other parts.

[confidantlake]

>So, because some people have anxiety, we should abandon all types of interviewing that look for signal wrt someone's social & communication skills?

No we should recognize that some parts of the interview give us false signals. We should improve the process to get better signals.

> Should I take the assertion of every person with social anxiety that in a job interview they can't perform, but in every other situation a job presents them with they'll be just fine?

No. Give me the problem, leave the room. Come back in 45 minutes and let me tell you about how I solved it. Don't make me solve it with you staring over me.

> Please fuck off with speaking down to me.

My first instinct was to say something rude in return. Instead I will ask why you think I am speaking down to you? I didn't downvote you. I did say I don't think you are good at understanding other people's perspectives.

>PS...

I am glad for you. That is awesome. I have worked on my anxiety for a long time. I used to get panic attacks when I had to say "here" during attendance roll call. I am much better than that now. But I still have anxiety and will likely always have it.

>I'm waiting for someone to explain to me how whiteboarding is somehow so much more unfairly stressful than all the other parts.

I can't tell you why it is more stressful, only that it is. So give me the problem, let me solve it in peace, and then let's discuss. You will get a stronger signal that way.

PS: I had very good SAT scores. That is about as an objective technical skill test as you can get. I also tutored teens in Math and Comp Sci. I have worked in teams with fellow engineers, designers, managers, and non technical business people. I know how to communicate with a wide variety of different people. But make me do a whiteboard interview and I will get a panic attack about a third of the time. You will then conclude I am an idiot who can't communicate.