I recently interviewed for a job at company where I had 20 minutes to code a solution in python (whose standard library I know nothing about) to a question, which also included googling certain finance-related APIs, with not one but two technical interviewers looking over my shoulder THE ENTIRE TIME.

It should be a fun place to work!

If they are any good they are not looking on the quality but on how to tackle the task. Do you lock up, give up, or dive in.

The task might like googles famous interview questions be impossible to correctly answer, they are designed to se how you approach a problem.

Good thing it was just an interview !
Once i worked for a company where a creepy dev used to come at my desk only to stare at my monitor and occasionally interrupt my workflow with things like "you need to close that parenthesis" or "String" or "and now what?" or generally trying to complete something I obviously left hung only because I was focusing on something else more important.
I really hated that attitude

@Voxera don't get me wrong, it was a great challenge altogether... and if I was applying for a job which involves disarming nuclear warheads on a daily basis I'd understand why It's necessary for an interview question to be so stressful.

@johnny-cache some interviewer go to the extreme to test new candidates possibly as a show of ;)

But it is hard to come up with a good challenge thats appropriate for every one :/

I'd stack overflow,copy and paste then look over my shoulder and say 'WALLAH'

@devJoe I pissed myself laughing reading this, thanks for starting my day on the right foot

I worked at a start-up that made interviewees play memory (the card game for kids) with an incomplete set, and timed them with this loud ticking chess clock.

Personally I'd take the python challenge. Still sounds like BS though

I also had a colleague whose office was near mine and while he was compiling or waiting for a restart he stared into my monitors continuously asking what I'm working on. I left before he got promoted as the team leader.