This is inspired by Hiring-without-whiteboards.

TL;DR

Discussing a real world problem (with or without whiteboard) is đź‘Ť
Solving CS trivia, technical puzzles, riddles, brainteasers (with or without whiteboard) is đź‘Ž twitter

Hiring without whiteboards đź‘Ť

Yep, I hate typical, Computer-Science based (like sort, etc) whiteboard interviews too.

I do believe the problem can be solved by Google search is not a big problem.

The problems like How to implement this feature like this site is not a big issue too as it always has solutions in GitHub if it’s just a normal feature.

The fake interviews:

  • Boss: What’s the output with code ['1', '2','3'].map(parseInt)?
  • Employee: Ummm… Excuses Me? Can I borrow your computer and run this code on your Chrome? I will get the answer immediately.
  • Boss: No, you can not use the computer!
  • Employee: OK, The answer is [1, 2, 3]?
  • Boss: No.
  • Employee: What? The answer is [1, NaN, NaN]?! What’s happening just now and WHYYYYY? Let me Google it!
  • Boss: Okay…
  • Employee: Run ['1', '2','3'].map(function() { console.log(arguments) }) & Read the parseInt manual. Yeah! Got it!
  • Boss: No, no, no. The most important thing is you don’t understand the function map & parseInt.
  • Employee: Sorry? But, we never use map & parseInt like this. I will code like this ['1', '2', '3'].map(n => parseInt(n)).
  • Boss: Sorry, you are rejected.

Funny!

But… Wait! What are we going to do in interviews?

Discussing the employee’s real world project may be the best choice.

  • What problems have you met?
  • How to solve those issues?
  • Do you have any ideas to improve our company’s products?

Or you can just list projects’ problems you are facing. Like:

  • How to access multiple systems just with one account?
  • How to specify a user to request limited API at API Level (not just UI Level)?

Hiring with whiteboards đź‘Ž