[zhxiaoliang]

The author’s memory is remarkable. I hardly remember my own name that far back, LOL. Back then, I knew I would always struggle with those types of interviews, so I always carried a floppy disk with me to them. The disk contained a few programs I had written, and I would simply tell the interviewers, “Don’t give me a quiz. I’m terrible at it, so if you do, I’m out.” However, if they were willing to look at my capabilities, I would share a few of my programs. That approach actually worked most of the time and got me the jobs. The good old days!

[animal531]

Memory is a funny thing.

I also take months to learn new names, but I can tell you that my second interview ever was for a company which did low level SCADA work. Even though I never took that job or worked in any such related field I can still tell you what it stands for.

[TimByte]

Names disappear instantly, but some oddly specific technical acronym from one interview decades ago gets burned into ROM

[mikepurvis]

I can tell this is from forever ago by floppy disk.

[mvdtnz]

That's an IRL save icon for anyone who's wondering.

[kakacik]

3D printed to the finest details, heck it can even store like half a picture.

I fondly recall pirating Strike Commander on 35 floppies, it took quite a few sessions to transfer this since there was quite often some data reading error... good memories, feel like from 5 centuries ago

[zhxiaoliang]

Yes, but it feels like yesterday...

[TimByte]

A small floppy full of actual programs probably said much more about your ability than a whiteboard quiz ever could

[chistev]

Why did that approach change?

[ta8903]

Surely the modern equivalent to that is having public git repositories.

[HarHarVeryFunny]

Perhaps, but has "I'm not doing your whiteboard challenge - check out my git repositories instead!" ever worked for you?!

[zhxiaoliang]

Haha, for some reason when phrased like that I get a bad feeling about the outcome of the interview.

[zhxiaoliang]

I’m not sure if that strategy still works in today’s job market. It might still be, but I’m not the one to answer since I haven’t been on a job interview in quite some time.

[joezydeco]

I work in embedded systems. I always carry a few (small) projects with me in a backpack with a power supply and bring them out if certain topics allow me to do a show-and-tell.

I also carry a binder. Each page is a one-page description of a project with a color photo of the system and a bulled-point list of all technologies inside. It's a great conversation starter. Hasn't failed me yet.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

10 years after I was hired, one of the interviewers still remembered me showing him a small board that I'd designed, even though he was a Windows MFC programmer and didn't know the first thing about microcontrollers.

I've made great hires who had binders just like you described.