[ryanbrunner]

I think it's worthwhile looking at what you're going to accomplish out of an interview. For systems design type stuff, I think it's reasonable to always ask, since it's useful to know how someone approaches problems, and it's not necessarily a given that someone would have needed to deal with architectural / design questions regardless of seniority level.

If you're hiring for a senior position though, and the purpose of your question is "can this person code?", you should be able to get enough evidence from their resume / github / references. If you genuinely can't, then I'd question why you're interviewing them for a senior position in the first place. Strict adherence to standardization leads to absurd scenarios like giving basic "can you code" interviews to the authour of Homebrew like the article states.

[yodsanklai]

> you should be able to get enough evidence from their resume / github / references

The problem is when you get 1000s of such resumes, but only a few positions to fill. Also, not everybody has time to spent on github projects. It can be even more time consuming to work on personal projects than brushing up your algorithmic skills. Not saying these interviews are perfect, but I do believe that they are a good solution for a very big company.

Talking about system design interviews, I had the feeling that they were less useful than algorithm interviews, especially for a senior SWE. You can nail them with only theoretical knowledge, even though you've never worked on the systems they ask you to design.

[b20000]

if I spend 3 months full time building a product, I have something of value, guaranteed. If I spend 3 months on interview prep, then I still have to start going through the cycles, and it will take another 3 months before I might have a job. No guarantees. Anyone can build something in a month, so the idea you have no time to build a side project is just BS. Especially if you can spend months grinding leetcode.

[yodsanklai]

It's a gamble. Most companies don't bother to look at Github page, at least in my experience. On the other hand, the skills you build grinding leetcode can get you a good job (and the next ones).

[b20000]

grinding leetcode guarantees nothing. I does not guarantee you will get a job now, and it won't in the future when you go looking for your next job. Looking back at my recent experience I don't see how it made any sense for me to spend my time on that.

[b20000]

I went through several cycles and did excellent on the SD interviews because of my experience. But none of that stuff mattered, it was all about answering some trick coding questions that were irrelevant for the job. So it seems that all the important stuff like experience is much less important than leetcode.