Interviewing for technical positions is challenging for both the company and the candidate. Top candidates spend tens of hours studying algorithm problems ahead of interviews, demonstrating that simply being a great software engineer does not prepare you to interview for a software engineering role.
A recent study out of North Carolina State University found that candidates perform worse in algorithm interviews when being watched, and the effect is exacerbated for women. As a result, many companies are passing over qualified candidates and potentially exaggerating the gender bias in the industry. The JavaScript community is especially poised to benefit from different interviewing styles because of the language’s accessibility to newcomers and it’s breadth of applications.
I’ll be talking about alternative approaches to assessing technical competency including code reading, code review, and pairing exercises. These approaches aim to remove performance anxiety, align the interview more closely with the role, reduce false negatives, and support underrepresented groups.
What do you need to know to be able to follow along?
Not much, mostly you need to be able to empathize with the experience of being grilled during a live-coding algorithm-based technical interview.
Relevance
This talk is relevant for anyone who has influence over how their company administers technical interviews. Any engineer could take the advice from this talk back to their company and suggest improvements to their interview process.
Carly Litchfield
Carly is an Engineering Manager at Galileo Health where she supports the patient-facing team in delivering a higher quality, more reliable healthcare experience to a broad range of patients. She loves React, Typescript, and automation of all sorts. Outside of work, you can find her skiing, solving the NYT crossword, or at the local dive bar.