The relationship between technical interviews and real-world performance remains one of the most debated topics in software engineering recruitment. While you may be reading this because of a recent interview experience we shared, this post aims to explore a broader and more important question: how can companies better identify talented developers? Although many organizations have established interview processes they consider sufficient, the challenge of false negatives – rejecting qualified candidates – continues to impact both companies and developers 1. As Joel Spolsky notes, "A lot of good programmers end up getting rejected — while, even worse, companies end up hiring people who are good at passing tests, but under-perform in the real world" 2. Drawing from industry anecdotes 3, professional discussions 4, and academic research 5, this post examines real-world examples and alternatives to traditional coding interviews.
I am a lifelong developer. When I discovered programming in adolescence I took to it and never stopped. After decades of being a full time individual contributor my love of coding only continues to deepen.