[anchochilis]

As a candidate, I vastly prefer a take-home to live whiteboarding or pairing. That background sensation of being observed and evaluated greatly interferes with my ability to concentrate and perform at my best.

(I'll note that I have no problem pairing in real-world work scenarios! I love discussing problems with my team. It's the artificial pressure injected by the interview process that really gets to me)

[120bits]

I have been in situations were I had to pair program for an interview. The artificial pressure is true, I don't know how to react and even speak out when I'm trying to show my coding skills.

I don't have issues with whiteboarding and pair programming with my current teammates. I can speak up and have enough confident to do. But its not the same in an interview situation. I prefer take-home as well.

[alexyang21]

How would a take-home compare to a hybrid format? For example, if you were given a 1-hour take-home followed by a live session asking about your thought process and then pairing to extend what you previously worked on.

[anchochilis]

I think a hybrid format is the right way to do take-homes. The candidate is less likely to resent the time invested in the take-home if they have a chance to discuss or "show off" their work. It also gives candidates who have less free time to complete a polished solution the chance to say "if I had more time, I would [add tests, optimize this function, ...]>"

I still struggle with the "observer effect" during live extension exercises, but it's less pronounced than when starting with a problem from scratch. If I prepare a high quality solution in advance and do well in technical discussions, that's usually enough to offset any fumbling around during the live programming session due to interview jitters.

[twawaaay]

It is not about what candidates prefer. If that was the case, there would be no whiteboards or any kind of exercises at all.

[anchochilis]

It actually is, because the interview process influences the size, diversity, and caliber of the pool of candidates who apply to your organization, complete the interview loop and accept offers.

If you have an unlimited engineering budget or a big, attractive name then by all means, force candidates to jump through as many hoops as you'd like, you'll still be able to fill open reqs. But the majority of companies are not in that position and in fact struggle to attract and retain technical talent.

[Ancient]

Perfectly articulated. Thank you!

+1 Vote