Just interviewed a guy with ~8 years of experience:
Me: *Asked him to write a simple algo logic on a paper*

Him: I don't do much of algo design. I'm much of a design patterns and software design guy.

Me: How would you design a singleton class in Java?

Him: *writes a sloppy code*

Me: Hey, thanks for your time. Our HR will get back to you with further updates.

Moral: Interviews can be very short when the candidate doesn't code.

Stop being harsh, you could tell him write a code that does a specific feature

@Mba3gar I'm not being harsh at all. I just asked him to write a piece of code which he said he can't. We need people who can actually write code. If I'd hired him, then I would have ended up doing his work as well.

Maybe he’s never seen pen and paper before.

Turns out he knew how to code but can’t write

@Loading If he doesn't know how to write then he doesn't know how to code. smh

I agree somewhat to not being able to code on pen and paper. Interviews are very intense situations. Interviewers should always try to be super nice (or pretend to be. Let's face it. We are angry ranters). If you can't solve one problem, here's another. You don't know this one? No problem, try this. How about you take this hint from me and work on that?

But if somebody can't take a hint and work on it, then it's a no. Nobody wants NPP in their teams.

And to be honest, if you are used to writing code, you can at least verbally tell how to do something if not able to write on paper or a white board.

@badcoder Just to be clear, does NPP stands for "No Problem, Pal" or something else?

@badcoder Functional code in dry run >> Hit and Trial

@wingardium Non Programming Programmer

@rezn0v sorry. I accidentally clicked on report instead of replying. My apologies

I agree. I usually like to see how the interviewee takes hints and banks on them. How they respond to feedback, maybe talk a little randomly about philosophy of best practices vs trade-offs of doing real world programming to gauge their understanding. Solving a piece of code is just one part of the puzzle. The question I like to answer is would I enjoy working with this person. Would my teammates enjoy working with this person

@badcoder it's totally okay bro, the thing is that I don't have much experience, I'm still a student, man.

The guy has 8 years of experience and can't code shit. Sure, nerves add up and all, so perhaps I wouldn't be able to think of algorithms for advanced problems in an interview as well as in a relaxed environment, but sure as hell I could code a singleton.

Come on, doing some flowchart on paper isn't hard. It's even easier than coding. That is, unless you don't know how to think, and that's why it's wise to reject that candidate.

I did one of those shitty logic bullshit tests these a few weeks ago. It was fucking dumb. Was told to write an algorithm to test when an egg would break if it was dropped off a ladder with 100 steps. An egg would break if you dropped it without being on a ladder. Am I right? The guy was like yeah but what if it didn't? I said Well it would. Eggs are fragile. How about you go away with your fictional fucking logic and ask me some proper question that test my actual coding knowledge instead of trying to pony about on your high horse. Cunt!

@pretzlerich that's an annoying experience. But just for the record, I never ask any fictional crap in interviews. And for the guy whom I interviewed, I'd asked him a problem which was one of the flavor of DFS algorithm.

@pretzlerich This question is meant to make the interviewer feel smart. I have made it a rule never to ask puzzle questions even if the process states so. They don't prove anything. Most of these questions are available online with heavy mathematical answers. Guess what... The guy who answered this stupid question can't code a simple polymorphic class when given a design problem in my past company.

Questions should have a narrative around them just like real business use cases. What the fuck is the point of solving an arcane puzzle when the person can't write readable code.