I've been thinking a lot about #SoftwareEngineering #interviews lately. Some random thoughts below 👇
Whiteboards rock, but we're doing it wrong. Instead of using one of the most powerful thinking tools to sketch and discuss architecture and systems, we're using it to write code 😅 It really sucks that such a great tool has such bad reputation.
If you need to study for the interview, look for another company. Information is widely available online, what you need to be good at is searching and using it, not remembering things by heart. Of course you need to know the basics and how things work, but not specific commands.
Trying to find the "best engineer" rarely works, what you should be looking after is someone that "clicks" with the team and can accomplish what you want from the role. Technical skills can be fixed, soft skills are damn hard to improve.
Often times a candidate (or a company) might not be a good fit and it's nobody's fault. Both sides might be remarkable, but that doesn't make them a good match. It's important to understand and accept that and not try to force yourself to make it work.
Last, but definitely not least, investing time and money is important for both sides. The candidate should be willing to invest a few hours and the company should invest their engineers' time for the interviews.
A project where both parties will work together is a great idea, but I believe that the candidate should be paid for their time and create value. After all, investing time and money to reduce the risk of suffering 40 hours a week doesn't sound that bad at all.
