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Comment by Kiro | Hacker News Reader

Am I the only one who thinks the pressure a whiteboard adds is actually something valuable? In my last job there were a lot of situations where you had to solve a real problem under extreme pressure. People who couldn't handle it simply weren't cut for the job.

I don't think all interviews should use it but for us it was good for filtering out candidates who would not perform in those situations.

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In my experience, if you're regularly coding under extreme pressure, something is wrong.

Whiteboard coding is also a different kind of pressure. I can't imagine a situation where someone who already knows the answer is watching over your shoulder critiquing you while you work on a problem.

> In my experience, if you're regularly coding under extreme pressure, something is wrong.

right? unless you are in downtime mode, there's really something wrong with your schedule/deliverables/tasks.

writing code is not a race, it's more of a marathon where you have to be at a healthy pace to get to the end, otherwise you will not be able to finish.

In an ideal world, yes, but for a company on a tight budget it's not that easy. When the alternative is bankruptcy you don't have much choice.

What real life pressure do you think a whiteboard test simulates?

I think it's unlike any real situation, and you're fooling yourself that one kind of stressor is like another.

What on earth were you doing that required solving software problems under extreme pressure?!

This sounds like an incredibly toxic working environment, where developers are either being allowed to create fires on production systems, or management is completely incompetent or both.

Also, being able to "handle it" has nothing to do with anything in this discussion. I'd much prefer to hire someone capable enough to not need to "handle it" than someone proud of the fact that they often s*it the bed but are willing to jump up and do the laundry under pressure.

Toxic or not it's the reality for many companies. You speak like everyone has unlimited resources. For us it was a combination of legacy code and working with big external parties that set the rules (government APIs etc).

I personally enjoyed it but it's not for everyone.

I find the pressure of significant code on a whiteboard to be very different even from producing under pressure.

I think it comes down to expectations - in an interview I have to focus on impressing my audience and that's always there. In real life, I can focus fully on the actual problem being solved.

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