{"id":999881606,"date":"2017-03-21T13:51:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T13:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dice.npgdev.com\/?p=598911005"},"modified":"2017-03-21T13:51:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T13:51:00","slug":"time-give-whiteboard-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dice.npgdev.com\/hiring\/recruitment\/time-give-whiteboard-interview","title":{"rendered":"Is It Time to Give Up the Whiteboard Interview?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" Ask a random selection of tech pros about their job-interviewing experiences, and chances are pretty good you won\u2019t hear a lot of love for whiteboard interviews. As every recruiter and employer knows, many tech companies rely on whiteboarding to judge candidates\u2019 problem-solving abilities. At the same time, however, developers and other tech pros are used to typing code, and complain that writing it out longhand with a dry-erase marker feels weird and unintuitive. To hear developers tell it, whiteboarding also offers precious little insight into how tech pros work through problems in the real world. For example, even the most experienced pros rely on Google in order to look up code\u2014something they can\u2019t do in front of a whiteboard. \u201cHow many people can actually write BFS [breadth-first search] on the spot, without preparing for it in advance?\u201d Sahat Yalkabov, a developer, wrote in a much-circulated Medium posting<\/a> in 2016. \u201cAgain, I am not a recent college graduate anymore who has breadth-first search memorized, and aren\u2019t my open-source projects and my prior work experience at Yahoo enough to show that I can write code and deliver software into production?\u201d If you ask a hiring manager or recruiter, though, whiteboarding has its uses. Watching a tech pro work a problem can provide valuable insight into how they respond to pressure and unanticipated challenges. Even if the candidate doesn\u2019t get the right answers, the company can evaluate their process vis-\u00e0-vis other candidates, and presumably make an informed decision about who to hire. Despite those benefits, not all companies offer whiteboard interviews, and a new (and growing) list on Github shows exactly which ones<\/a>. \u201cThe companies and teams listed here instead use interview techniques and questions that resemble day-to-day work\u2014for example pairing on a real world problem, or a paid\/unpaid takehome [sic] exercise,\u201d reads the list\u2019s introduction. \u201cDiscussing a real world problem with the help of a whiteboard is [thumbs-up emoji],\u201d reads the \u201ctl:dr\u201d section beneath. \u201cSolving basic CS questions, technical puzzles, brainteasers (with or without a whiteboard) is [thumbs-down emoji].\u201d Companies listed (so far) include Basecamp, Instacart, Netflix Enterprise Platforms, Slack, and Thread. Instead of a whiteboard interview, these firms may offer take-home exercises, pair-programming challenges, and coding sessions with senior team members. That doesn\u2019t mean whiteboard interviews are fading away anytime soon. But for recruiters and hiring managers attempting to hire the best tech talent, evaluating other interviewing styles may ultimately prove beneficial\u2014and make some candidates a lot happier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ask a random selection of tech pros about their job-interviewing experiences, and chances are pretty good you won\u2019t hear a lot of love for whiteboard interviews. As every recruiter and employer knows, many tech companies rely on whiteboarding to judge candidates\u2019 problem-solving abilities. At the same time, however, developers and other tech pros are used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":598911005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2155],"class_list":["post-999881606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hiring-candidates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs It Time to Give Up the Whiteboard Interview? - Dice Hiring<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ask a random selection of tech pros about their job-interviewing experiences, and chances are pretty good you won\u2019t hear a lot of love for whiteboard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dice.npgdev.com\/hiring\/recruitment\/time-give-whiteboard-interview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is It Time to Give Up the Whiteboard Interview?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ask a random selection of tech pros about their job-interviewing experiences, and chances are pretty good you won\u2019t hear a lot of love for whiteboard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dice.npgdev.com\/hiring\/recruitment\/time-give-whiteboard-interview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dice Hiring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-21T13:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dice.npgdev.com\/hiring\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/shutterstock_549714715-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dice Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Dicedotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Dicedotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dice Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/recruitment\\\/time-give-whiteboard-interview#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/recruitment\\\/time-give-whiteboard-interview\"},\"author\":{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Dice Staff\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/authors\\\/dice-staff\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/Dicedotcom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/dice\"]},\"headline\":\"Is It Time to Give Up the Whiteboard Interview?\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-21T13:51:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/recruitment\\\/time-give-whiteboard-interview\"},\"wordCount\":427,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/recruitment\\\/time-give-whiteboard-interview#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/shutterstock_549714715-3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Hiring Candidates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/recruitment\\\/time-give-whiteboard-interview#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/recruitment\\\/time-give-whiteboard-interview\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dice.npgdev.com\\\/hiring\\\/recruitment\\\/time-give-whiteboard-interview\",\"name\":\"Is It Time to Give Up the Whiteboard Interview? 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