> for hiring programmers at least it's common (even if rife with its own pitfalls) to do more objective things like asking for a demonstration of basic coding capabilities
I'm a developer but was previously a practicing attorney. If you think developer interviews are bad, you should try interviewing for a law firm. Outside of the objective but course metrics like law school rank and class rank, it's almost impossible to tell if a candidate will be a good lawyer or a bad one. Most interviews I was on and administered, we just chatted. The purpose of the interview was to determine if you could hold a normal conversation.
Fun anecdote about this. The morning before a law firm interview I cut myself shaving. It dried and the initial interview went well. But then we went to lunch, and when I wiped my face with a napkin, the cut opened up. I started bleeding all over the place, soaking my napkin in red. The people interviewing me told me to feel free to go to the bathroom and take care of it, but I said "no, I'm fine", and continued to literally make a bloody mess. That was the wrong answer. The right one was to be cool but handle it. I didn't get that job.
I'm a developer but was previously a practicing attorney. If you think developer interviews are bad, you should try interviewing for a law firm. Outside of the objective but course metrics like law school rank and class rank, it's almost impossible to tell if a candidate will be a good lawyer or a bad one. Most interviews I was on and administered, we just chatted. The purpose of the interview was to determine if you could hold a normal conversation.
Fun anecdote about this. The morning before a law firm interview I cut myself shaving. It dried and the initial interview went well. But then we went to lunch, and when I wiped my face with a napkin, the cut opened up. I started bleeding all over the place, soaking my napkin in red. The people interviewing me told me to feel free to go to the bathroom and take care of it, but I said "no, I'm fine", and continued to literally make a bloody mess. That was the wrong answer. The right one was to be cool but handle it. I didn't get that job.