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Tech Sector Job Interviews Assess Anxiety, Not Skills


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Coding on a whiteboard.

Researchers at North Carolina State University (NC State) and Microsoft have determined that technical interviews for many software engineering positions do not focus on candidates' competency at coding, but on whether they suffer from performance anxiet

Credit: Whiteboard Coding Interview Practice

Researchers at North Carolina State University (NC State) and Microsoft found that technical interviews for many software engineering positions do not focus on whether the candidate is competent at coding, but whether they suffer from performance anxiety.

These interviews often require candidates to write out a solution in code on a whiteboard while explaining each step to an interviewer.

The researchers conducted technical interviews of 48 computer science undergraduates and graduate students, with half given a conventional technical interview and the other half required to solve a problem on a whiteboard in a private room.

Said NC State's Chris Parnin, "In short, the findings suggest that companies are missing out on really good programmers because those programmers aren't good at writing on a whiteboard and explaining their work out loud while coding."

From NC State University News
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA


 

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