Data-Driven Software Interviews

Thomas Ptacek:

The software developer job interview doesn’t work. Companies should stop relying on them. The savviest teams will outcompete their peers by devising alternative hiring schemes.

Years from now, we’ll look back at the 2015 developer interview as an anachronism, akin to hiring an orchestra cellist with a personality test and a quiz about music theory rather than a blind audition. Being good at navigating hiring processes requires a basket of skills that isn’t correlated with job performance. The world is full of people who can speak expertly about programming, but can’t effectively code. The majority of people who can code can’t do it well in an interview. Our hiring process therefore systematically misprices candidates. It’s a moral problem and a market failure. Profit from its correction.