Whiteboarding during interviews?

steppinthrax

So apparently a new tread companies are doing is whiteboarding!!!!!!

Some code is on the board and they ask you to complete the code segment or demonstrate some code. WOW.

What assholery.

How do you guys feel about this?

Kelkin

Honestly.. On the network side.. used the whiteboard quite a few times over the years in interviews..

BlackBeret

You have to demonstrate technical knowledge in a technical interview!? How dare they...

BlackBeret

Kidding aside, I actually think it's a great idea for those above entry level positions. I've seen too many people who could talk the talk, but didn't actually have a clue when it came to doing things. This always causes a lot of issues and having them prove they know what they're DOING rather than just talking like they do.

Danielm7

We hired a new security architect a few months ago, we had a few of them who asked to whiteboard things when we asked them technical questions just so they were sure they understood and were answering correctly.

IIIMaster

Nothing new man, so many paper certs and hacks are floating around its crazy.

networker050184

Certainly not new and what is wrong with having someone demonstrate their technical knowledge? Isn't that the whole point of an interview?

gespenstern

On my current job I was interviewed by like 15 people. I painted a scheme of an ADDS forest and trusts and kerberos ticket scheme and how they should work and tell them how replication topology works and how to troubleshoot replication issues and stuff and all of them were shooting at me. Damn, I barely survived, hehe

edwilliamsky

Not a new trend. Why is it "assholery" to ask a candidate to prove the skills they claim to have?

cyberguypr

The OPs comments remind me of a guy we interviewed once. He got visibly irate because we asked him advanced technical questions (this was a senior role). His argument was that if he said he knew something we should believe him. That's not how it works buddy. Whiteboarding is a very efficient tactic to separate the regular IT guys from the ones who could think conceptually, out of the box, and come up with creative solutions.

the_Grinch

I had a University ask that I create a presentation to teach a concept and then present it in front of a group of three people. Looking back I think it was a good idea.

jamesleecoleman

I think it's great that they did that. It would be nice to have this done more. I remember being in the IT department at the local CC and saw a drawing of a network diagram with the ip addressing on it. I wish interviews were more hands on too.

Iristheangel

This is not a new trend. This is interviewing done right. They need to understand if you're technical enough or not to do the job. If you're looking to get a technical position, there's a baseline amount of knowledge that they're going to expect.

Go into your interviews expecting it to be technical and as long as you don't over exaggerate your skillset and you are honest, you should have a fair interview.

NOC-Ninja

I dont know why this is assholery. If you know what you are doing then this should not be a problem.
Some jobs even ask for network topology drawings that you have created and expect you to explain it.
The idea is that they want to see what is the level of you technical knowledge. I dont mind drawing and explaining what I know.