[k_sze]

The way I do "technical" interviews:

1. FizzBuzz, always, unironically; this easily weeds out 99% of the people who can’t program. I don’t even ask for an elegant solution, just a solution that works, in any language they choose.

2. Open question/toy problem that doesn’t involve hardcore technical knowledge, just common sense. The question is framed in a way that the candidate can grasp an actual use case - e.g. “How would you design a database for a public library?” I would explain concepts like PK and FK on the spot if needed. I even let them use the internet to look up whatever they need. The idea is not to see how much stuff they have memorized from leetcode, but to see their thinking process and whether they are resourceful and ask the right questions. Seriously, some people don’t even know what keywords, not even approximate ones, to use to Google stuff.

Resourcefulness and asking the right questions have much higher priorities on my list of things to look for in candidates.

[ionwake]

well then Im out, I refuse to do fizzbuzz and I can program so already I spot a fallacy in your statements.

[stale2002]

How else can I know that you know how to program though?

Fizz buzz is literally a couple IF statements and a loop.

As an interviewer, I need to know that you aren't just completely making everything up.

This is an actual problem. There are actually people who, for some reason or another, made up a bunch of stuff on their resume and literally do not know how to use a loop or IF statement, and there is no way to know this, unless you ask them to do it.

It is not an insult against you. It is just that an interviewer needs some small very easy check, just to make sure that you didn't completely make everything up.

[ionwake]

Why dont you test how I drink from a cup of water to ascertain that I am able to function as a normal human being?

Where is the line drawn?

If there is 20 years of programming experience it could be perceived as an insult in my opinion.

[stale2002]

> Why dont you test how I drink from a cup of water to ascertain that I am able to function as a normal human being?

> Where is the line drawn?

The line would be drawn at the place where like 20% of people who interview at places legitimately can't solve fizz buzz.

If I lived in a bizarro universe, where 20% of people that I talk too legitimately can't drink a glass of water, then I might have to test for that as well.

Fortunately, we aren't in that kind of situation yet.

> If there is 20 years of programming experience it could be perceived as an insult in my opinion.

Ok, and what about the people who put 20 years of programming experience on their resume and are just making everything up, and legitimately don't know even the basics of coding?

Thats the problem that exists in the world. That there are people who you have no way of knowing how to actually code at all, and exaggerated to an extreme degree on their resume.

How else would you suggest figuring out if the person that I am talking to basically just completely made everything up, or is instead just such a good talker that they can bluff their way into people thinking that they know what they are doing?

[ionwake]

Just ask them a complex programming question

[stale2002]

But the whole point is that I don't want to ask a really hard question, that then causes people who do not study interview questions to fail.

The whole point would be that someone who knows how to program at all, should pass.

Giving a complex problem would defeat the point.

[k_sze]

Heh. I don't claim my method is perfect, but I believe it's reasonably better than hardcore leetcode stuff. FizzBuzz is the kind of problem that doesn't need any preparation to solve for any person who can program. In fact, if I sense that the candidate already knows FizzBuzz too well, I can skip right over it and head over to the open question/toy problem. The candidate could try to bluff me about FizzBuzz, but that's not going to help them at the open question/toy problem. :P

[ionwake]

>The candidate could try to bluff me about FizzBuzz, but that's not going to help them at the open question/toy problem. :P

Then why ask it? This is the whole reason for my stance