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Comment by scarface74 | Hacker News Reader

My view is that you can't have competence at a certain level without confidence - unless you're just an easily outsourced code slinger. I'm often at a whiteboard explaining architecture, ideas, etc. How do you do that without confidence and some semblance of emotional intelligence.

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There is really no comparison. Explaining architecture, ideas etc to your colleagues has pretty much no resemblance to a whiteboard interview, where you have several people staring at you and judging you. One is a discussion the other is a test, they compare like having a beer with a colleague is like holding a speech in front of a bunch of stranger.

When I'm the only developer talking to managers, directors, etc. I'm constantly being judged by whether I have good ideas and whether I can be trusted to architect a solution.

May be I am a little overconfident, but I always go into an interview and treat it as a formality to getting the job. By the time I'm in front of the whiteboard, I've already spoken to the recruiter and know what they are looking for, seen the job req to know what technologies they care about, and I've had a phone screen. Why wouldn't I be confident?

When an interview is not a discussion, but rather a test, it is a bad interview.

Now that I think about it, I wasn't asked a single programming question when I was interviewed for the job I have now. I was asked architectural, process improvement, soft skill questions. That's probably why I chose the job I have over other offers. It was more of a discussion and by the end of the interview, I was joking around with the hiring manager and said something to the effect of "I'm already assuming I'm going to get the job. When am I going to hear back from you?" He started laughing and said soon.

Another interviewer told me at the end of the interview to submit an application and they can get an offer emailed to me by the end of the day. We did a collaborative white board design session and spent a lot of time just talking.

Either all of the job offers I've gotten have been mostly just discussions or I talk tech so much I can't tell the difference between an interview and a typical day at the office.

We've had similar experiences. For the vast majority of jobs across all industries, the last deciding common denominator question that seals the deal is "Can I see myself having a beer with this person?"

Most interviews I've been to have been the same. I was talking about the ones where you have to solve some tricky algorithm questions at a whiteboard while someone is staring at you. I have no problem doing that in front of my colleagues, but find it difficult to do at a job interview.

One thing I've always been curious about is why folks are so afraid of being judged. Most people are judging you all the time, yet recognizing this fact causes a lot of people intense anxiety. I'd rather look at it as a selection filter: if someone doesn't like you or doesn't want to work with you, that's a strong signal that you'd be better off not spending any more energy on them, and instead focusing on the folks who do like you & want to work with you.

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