The ways every other field on earth interviews people? Do Surgeons need to perform mock surgeries before they are hired? Do Accountants need to complete a test audit? Do Lawyers perform a mock trial?
> Do Surgeons need to perform mock surgeries before they are hired?
They must have a degree from an accredited institution before they can begin practicing, and part of earning the degree is operating on cadavers, so, yes.
> Do Accountants need to complete a test audit?
In order to be a Certified Public Account in the US, you must pass the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, which has a section on auditing and has "task-based simulations", which are:
"CPA Task-Based Simulations are scenario-based questions on the CPA Exam. They are a large part of what makes the CPA Exam so difficult. Each one will introduce a situation, provide data in the form of charts, memos, and emails, and require you to answer a series of questions."
So, I think yes?
> Do Lawyers perform a mock trial?
In order to be a lawyer in the US, you generally need to pass a state's bar examination. Most of those include "performance tests" which require the testee to simulate part of the job of being a lawyer. I don't know think mock trials are part of that, but writing a legal brief or doing other typical lawyer work is.
My understanding is that going to trial is a small fraction of what most lawyers do and lawyers going in that direction will gain that experience as junior members of a law firm.
>They must have a degree from an accredited institution before they can begin practicing, and part of earning the degree is operating on cadavers, so, yes.
You know what I meant. You have merely created a series of strawmen. They don't need to perform a trial surgery every time they interview for a new job. The same goes for all my examples so nice try.
In every profession that is relatively high stakes, there is a pretty concrete chain of validation that the person can do the thing they claim to be able to do and that chain of validation does indeed rest on demonstrated performance at that capability.
Yes, a surgeon doesn't need to perform traial surgeries every time they change jobs. But, also, they only work inside certified, heavily-regulated institutations that are able to vouch for their previous performance.
No such institutions exist for software engineering.
Many accountants are not Certified Public Accountants. Many engineers are not Professional Engineers. Many legal workers are not lawyers. And references in those fields are not more concrete.
Yea, OP's questions show that what we really need is an equivalent to the bar exam for software developers, if we want to move beyond these fizzbuzz interviews. Something that would at least assure a base level of programming skill. You'd still have to test for specific domain knowledge, but a comprehensive "programming bar" test could at least show someone met the minimum.
