People suck at technical interviews (2014)
Hiring Manager Perspective: Everyone lies, sorry.<p>As a candidate, I hate technical interviews. For the reasons above. As the poor schmuck asked to make the hiring decision, however, I've learned that I can't live without them.<p>My technical isn't complicated. A very basic SQL assignment (delivered to an audience which claims to know SQL) that is followed by a few broader database design / data process QA questions. Entire assignment is 100% job relevant (in fact, my SVP asked for a copy of the report it generates when he saw the problem on my whiteboard). I don't care about the details of syntax.<p>I do care, however, about candidates who produce SQL code which looks like the bastard love child of LISP and Java. About candidates who claim to know a skill but literally cannot write even basic syntax on the whiteboard. Who put "certificates" from Oracle on their bloody resume and break down under super gentle questioning and confess their tutor hasn't taught them JOINS (wtf ?) yet, never mind 5 years of claimed SQL experience at a big company on their resume.<p>The coding question is most definitely not an exercise in sadism. We validated it with several new hires who were confirmed to be "good at SQL". Average completion time: 2 minutes, generally with trolling about why do we waste our time with easy stuff.<p>That being said, my rejection rate from a basic coding interview is at least 50%, grading liberally and generally supported by several members of my team shaking their head about a candidate.<p>I've tried screening resumes, I've tried doing non-coding phone screens. IT DOESN'T WORK. Actually, all it does is eliminate the socially challenged and non-communicative (who actually tend to pass the whiteboard test) in favor of the liars.<p>And don't get me started about Python. Lest I bring up the Google-Motorola "I LUV Python <i>heart</i> <i>heart</i> <i>heart</i>" guy who didn't understand the difference between a list & dict.