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I think there are a couple aspects. Whiteboarding is a good proxy for general "intelligence" (similar to "IQ"). It doesn't test real world scenarios, but if you're looking for a smart person who knows how to implement code without having to rely on IDEs and autocompletion, this isn't a bad test. That said, whether "smart" and "can code" translates to job performance really depends on what the job requires. For the FAANGs that does centralized hiring, this "job requirement" is basically the best they can do for software engineers, since more specific requirements run contrary to the centralized hiring process. For the non-FAANG companies that cargo cult FAANG practices, it should be pointed out that it's really contrary to their interests to do it, since they're competing directly for the same pool people with less resources, even though they may not actually "need" the same people, and are in a position to hire more specifically for positions that they require. If I were hiring, I'd actually actively try to structure the interview process so that it will select for quality candidates that have a higher probability of being passed on by FAANG processes (or, in short, don't copy FAANG interview questions!). I suspect there's also an element where salty interviewees overestimate the difficulty of the whiteboard questions they get asked. I'm not saying we should disbelieve them, but I've personally seen cases where the interviewee mis-interprets/mis-categorizes the question asked, and then complained about it. Also, Dunning–Kruger effect and that stuff. That said, in general criticism of "FAANG-style" interviews is probably well grounded, but honestly, for the FAANGs that rely on these styles of interviews (as pointed out in some other comments, not all of them interview the same way), the inertia is so high that it's unlikely anything could change their practices, especially that it is in fact in a local optimum (there's nothing "better" if you do centralized hiring at scale). It's crucial that smaller companies don't cargo cult these practices though. |