| Rephrasing (b): who have we hired that, despite whiteboard coding proficiency, isn't cutting it? And why? Has someone suggested whiteboard proficiency is sufficient by itself? The whiteboard is meant to filter out people who suck. "Add a cache to a JavaScript function" is a dumb question for reasons many others have pointed out. Joel's classic article[1] recommends these as examples: • Write a function that determines if a string starts with an upper-case letter A-Z • Write a function that determines the area of a circle given the radius • Add up all the values in an array Those are all trivial. You should be able to come up with another half-dozen if you sit and think for a bit. The language doesn't matter, and the syntax shouldn't matter (as compared to the semantics). I hear lots of scare-stories of "great coders who choke on interviews," but I find it very hard to believe any kind of "great coder" can't add up the values in an array. I might ask "how do you find the median value in the array" just to see what they come up with. There isn't a right answer, but there are lots wrong answers. [1] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing... |
Fair point, that is a straw man. I haven't experienced an all-whiteboard interview - there's always been more to it.
The whiteboard is meant to filter out people who suck.
I think that's what some interviewers have missed. They jump straight in at the deep end with difficult algorithmic puzzles, and don't ever do an easy one. I have experienced this.