You're not alone. I detest these interviews, refuse to participate in them on either side. Of course, that's from the privileged position of currently being employed so it doesn't carry a lot of moral weight since it's currently causing me no pain.
I think they're terrible at what they claim to be doing (determining if a candidate is good at software engineering) because never in my life have I had to do a leetcode style thing under time pressure in my 15 years of professional software work.
I have a pet theory to explain them - I think it's simply a form of hazing. Many engineers have the mindset of "I had to go through this, you will too". It also allows the interviewer to intellectually flex on the interviewee which staves off impostor syndrome in the interviewee if only for a moment.
They also remove people like you and me, older and further into our careers with less stomach for make-work and less free time to practice for it.
Comments
You're not alone. I detest these interviews, refuse to participate in them on either side. Of course, that's from the privileged position of currently being employed so it doesn't carry a lot of moral weight since it's currently causing me no pain.
I think they're terrible at what they claim to be doing (determining if a candidate is good at software engineering) because never in my life have I had to do a leetcode style thing under time pressure in my 15 years of professional software work.
I have a pet theory to explain them - I think it's simply a form of hazing. Many engineers have the mindset of "I had to go through this, you will too". It also allows the interviewer to intellectually flex on the interviewee which staves off impostor syndrome in the interviewee if only for a moment.
They also remove people like you and me, older and further into our careers with less stomach for make-work and less free time to practice for it.