- Programming job interviews are often not focused on day-to-day programming tasks or how to program well.
- Many interview questions are about memorization of answers rather than potential programming skills.
- The current state of interviews is compared to rejecting a football player because they can't run fast backwards, which is a skill they may rarely if ever use in a game.
- The author has ideas for improving interviews by focusing on common programming tasks.
The sheer fact that one has to read books about interview questions makes me believe we go about interviews wrong. Â Just do a Google search about interview questions. Â There are entire books about interviewing and the questions to the answers to. Â These sort of interviews favor people with good memories than potentially good programmers.
I would illustrate this predicament with the scouting combine in the NFL. Â College players wanting to get into the NFL go through a set of tests to measure the player. Â The tests are specific to football and specific to the player’s position. Â I would liken our current state of interviews to rejecting a player because he can’t run fast backwards. Â It is something he may have to do, but would rarely if ever do it during an actual football game.
I have some ideas for how to improve interviews. Â I think it starts by thinking about what a programmer does on a daily basis. Â You may need to include some questions about things a programmer need to do less often, but I think it should focus on the common tasks.
