Push Back on Whiteboard Tests

With the rise of ghost jobs and startups' unrealistic expectations, it's time for Senior and Mid-Level Devs to push back on whiteboard tests.

Whiteboard Tests Not Suitable for Senior Devs

If you are a Senior Dev, you probably have plenty of experience and plenty of projects that you worked on. Companies should have no excuse to keep on the circus of technical rounds at this point except maybe situational or behavioral assessments which is a different story.

I've often been interviewed by companies, and every time I push back on whiteboard tests, I got either rejected or they look at me as if I'm an imposter or a fraud despite the fact that I provided them with sufficient prove and certifications proving my skills.

Whiteboard testing is an outdated technique, and we can safely assume that putting Senior Devs with substantial evidence of their skills through such process can be considered a toxic behavior from company side (unless they have no other work to do except testing candidates).

Senior Devs need to push back on companies asking for those processes not only because it's unnecessary but it's also considered waste for both employer and candidate in terms of time and resources.

I found that serious employers didn't put me through so many loops holes and they were more likely to hire me even if I made small minor errors.

This is why, I encourage Devs to establish online presence on Github and also do certifications.

As a self-taught Developer, I was often slammed in the face by some employers for lacking qualifications, it's ironic that when I became qualified, they still slammed the door in my face which proves that recruitment in tech is totally broken.

When you apply to a job, you need to show them that you're not desperate and need to understand your own value and project it throughout the process.

If they don't like your approach, you have to question whether they are really that good to work with.

We need to rethink our way of approaching tech companies given all the ghost jobs and terrible treatment that many candidates in the tech industry experienced between rejection over subjective issues to outright disrespect of the candidate.

In the case of well established companies of large size, this question changes since established large tech companies are by default very competitive. However, startups and coffee shops shouldn't demand whiteboard testing if they are serious.

A question you have to ask yourself in the case of a startup, if they have a Developer who has the capacity and skills to test you, do they really need you or are they looking for a monkey?

I witnessed ironically the situation when I saw hiring managers grinding candidates with stupid whiteboard tests till they themselves were at some point put in the same position and got grilled on interviews to positions that are similar to their own. Yes! Karma is a bitch! This doesn't mean I feel happy to see this situation because it's not. It's a sad situation which reflects how awful is the recruitment process for Devs.

Regardless of the broken recruitment process, you should not let employers' unfair practices discourage you from the things that you love.

We don't learn data structure and algorithms for an employer, we learn those to enhance our own software and write better software. It's an art, not a commodity to be bought and sold; you should be proud of what you do and you need to project your confidence.

Note:
For Junior Devs, it does make sense to be tested if you're straight out of college by employers because of the misalignment usually between academia and industry; so if you're still a Junior, it's ok to be tested.