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Puzzled by the interview process

I've always been interested in the reliance on logic puzzles and coding tests in interviewing software engineering candidates (Microsoft has a reputation for using this technique heavily in the past).

While I think I understand the desire to use such techniques, I believe that they create and reinforce a monoculture among engineering teams, and that the resulting monoculture may not be desirable.

What makes companies think that they can get consistently great engineers as a result of an interviewing technique that requires almost no preparation whatsoever? ⇒ Read more