[jzila]

This is great. I especially love that candidates are given a choice, so if they prefer the traditional technical interview they can choose that.

Normalizing performance between the two interview types will be challenging, but I think the benefits to be reaped far outweigh the difficulty of the challenges.

[eplanit]

Agreed. My reaction was "finally!". I really do not approach software engineering as Performance Art -- and I never write code on white boards when I work. I've been fortunate to have been asked only once to do such a performance in an interview, and my reaction was unfortunately (and unexpectedly) like the candidate they described. In that case I didn't write anything on the board, but instead explained verbally how I would approach the problem. They actually gave me a "take home" problem to solve. I was able to go to my office and produce a solution like I normally do, and then sent them the sources and test results.

Very glad to hear that folks are breaking free of this long-lived trend. I also interview candidates on behalf of my clients. Personally, I find the most effective technique is to choose items from their CV, and have describe in detail (with a white board) how they did it, what challenges they faced, etc. Then, pose to them a hypothetical "but what if you were constrained by X or Y, how would you adapt your solution", etc. It is very easy to spot a charlatan or liar in these questions. If they really did what they claimed on the CV, this type of session gives them great latitude to demonstrate and expand on what their capabilities are.

[cableshaft]

You've got to be a little careful picking out items from their CV, though, especially if you go back far enough. I barely remember anything I did six months ago, and anything one or two years ago I couldn't explain to you in anything more than a really broad overview, despite being neck deep in the code. I've since moved past that, tackled other projects, stuffed my head full of knowledge of other systems (and hobbies), and all that deep technical information on those projects is long, long gone.

[qwibbler]

If you put it on your resume, its fair game for the interviewer to ask about it.

[cableshaft]

Not disagreeing with you, but just saying there can be legitimate reasons why they don't have deep knowledge on past projects besides "they're a total charlatan, a liar!" It's probably cost me jobs before, and I try to reflect on and refresh my memory on past jobs as best as I can before interviews usually.

I've even gone over notes I took at a couple of my past jobs, and I don't even remember doing a lot of those things even with it written down in my own handwriting.