Long ago, I worked for a contractor company, so my colleagues and I had a lot of interviews to get sub-hired. As we had many of those interviews, we got pretty good at them, and we shared our experiences, knew popular tricky questions (like "swap using [place here any constraint]") and had names for different types of interviews. "Kick in the balls" was one of them, tricky questions which showed nothing, except that somebody solved that particular narrow problem or was already familiar with that question.
Having that experience, I know that the only reasonable interview is an open conversation. What was your last project? What was the architecture? What was problematic? How did you solve that? How did you come up with the solution? And so on. The candidate is relaxed, drinks coffee, and talks. After 1 hour, you know who you're dealing with.
If there's time, a pair coding session is informative. There are many small hints, like using shortcuts, that give away pros.
Having that experience, I know that the only reasonable interview is an open conversation. What was your last project? What was the architecture? What was problematic? How did you solve that? How did you come up with the solution? And so on. The candidate is relaxed, drinks coffee, and talks. After 1 hour, you know who you're dealing with.
If there's time, a pair coding session is informative. There are many small hints, like using shortcuts, that give away pros.