a) Open time. I give them a couple problems in the morning and they can take as long as they want to think about them before the interviews. This takes away the 'deer in headlights' situation that so often happens to people - all of us. I'm good on my feet, but 1 time out 3 'I just don't see it' immediately. But if I have some stress-free time, I usually do.
b) Don't test their knowledge of algorithms. Who cares if they've practiced certain things a lot? Doing homework is a small measure of what you want. I give them fairly basic problems that have nice side-show questions to ask and just have a discussion.
c) I try to test for knowledge where they should have it: if they've been on tools & build or dev ops they should have a good grasp of things there. Another way to say: you're looking for strengths not weaknesses. I keep an open mind and think 'how can we leverage this person's talent'? Maybe they're not good over here, but better over there.
d) Fairly simple code, idiomatic, etc. not rocket science.
e) Mature communicator and by that I almost literally mean not too crazy. I think most of us are 'abnormal' and that being a 'decent communicator' is a little bit rare. Companies are full of weird dynamics they have to be resilient a little bit.
a) Open time. I give them a couple problems in the morning and they can take as long as they want to think about them before the interviews. This takes away the 'deer in headlights' situation that so often happens to people - all of us. I'm good on my feet, but 1 time out 3 'I just don't see it' immediately. But if I have some stress-free time, I usually do.
b) Don't test their knowledge of algorithms. Who cares if they've practiced certain things a lot? Doing homework is a small measure of what you want. I give them fairly basic problems that have nice side-show questions to ask and just have a discussion.
c) I try to test for knowledge where they should have it: if they've been on tools & build or dev ops they should have a good grasp of things there. Another way to say: you're looking for strengths not weaknesses. I keep an open mind and think 'how can we leverage this person's talent'? Maybe they're not good over here, but better over there.
d) Fairly simple code, idiomatic, etc. not rocket science.
e) Mature communicator and by that I almost literally mean not too crazy. I think most of us are 'abnormal' and that being a 'decent communicator' is a little bit rare. Companies are full of weird dynamics they have to be resilient a little bit.