[drugstorecowboy]

I can certainly understand that there are unqualified people who apply, what I'm disputing is your assertion that there is a correlation between doing the contrived problems under unrealistic conditions and future job performance. It sounds like your goal is just to filter out the absolute worst of the worst, and I'm sure its effective at that, but I believe you might be filtering out more of the top end than you realize.

[krisoft]

> It sounds like your goal is just to filter out the absolute worst of the worst,

Yes.

> I'm disputing is your assertion that there is a correlation between doing the contrived problems under unrealistic conditions and future job performance.

You are projecting something here. You are saying, without any supporting evidence, that the problems are contrived. They are not. They are really the core of what me and my coworkers do day in and day out.

You are also saying that the conditions are unrealistic. What makes you think that?

[drugstorecowboy]

If you and your coworkers are solving the problem you posted "day in and day out" just hire me and you can get rid of them :)

You are right though I have no evidence they are contrived other than your example problem. The unrealistic working conditions though is indisputable, do you typically relay your google search's for syntax through your boss? Do you often work under extreme time pressure on problems you have never seen before? Perhaps you do, but I can tell you with certainty that it's not the norm in the industry to work in that way.

[MrCalico]

Not the guy you responded too, but is there a good way to avoid a time pressure? A limit has to be set as to the time spent per candidate from the company's pov.

[sokoloff]

> It sounds like your goal is just to filter out the absolute worst of the worst

Indeed, this is a holy grail of the applicant funnel. If a tech-for-interviewing company comes up with a better way to remove the worst 50-ish% of applicants efficiently, they’ll have no worries about their future. (The overall applicant pool is significantly adversely skilled as compared to the have been or will be quickly hired pool.)