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I hate white boarding sessions. They feel unnatural to me. I simply don't work well when put on the spot and I have 3 ogres staring at me waiting for me to fuck up in front of them. Fight or flight engages, the adrenaline rush, my mind freezes. Suddenly it's like I forget how to code at all and I'm expected to solve a problem at once, correctly the right time, or I'm out.

I can't work like that. I need time to process a problem on my own, with my coffee in my one hand and a pencil and scratch paper in the other, not with some demanding employer standing over my shoulder the whole time scrutinizing my every key stroke. I get things wrong the first time sometimes, and more often than not have to google things I can't recall spontaneously. But I always figure it out, test it, make sure it's right before putting it into use.

I've been through several "probationary" periods when first starting a job. They just tell you, they're giving you a month to see if you can handle the job. If not, sayonara. I don't see what's so hard about evaluating candidates in a real world scenario.

So many employers have totally unrealistic expectations.

Comments
  • 6
    I've found a lot of this kind of bullshit is literally stress testing employees to see how they work under pressure rather than testing how well they know their stuff. It's more a matter of "let's provoke this character and see if he explodes" while they eat their popcorn and laugh...It's entertainment for the assholes really and has no bearing on real world performance.
  • 5
    Been there.. I quite after 3 weeks for more sane workplace, one of the best decisions i made
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