Do people generally write concise code on right off the bat when confronted with a new problem?
As someone who has been on the interviewer side: this is an indicator of how much the interviewee "thinks first"; the ones who immediately start spewing tons of code are usually those who don't really have a good understanding of what they're trying to do.
As someone who's done a lot of interviews on both sides: I get where you're coming from but don't really think it's as universal as you think. Some people gain understanding through doing; and there's nothing wrong with that?
Thinking first is a very Cartesian approach to development and not necessarily the best way. Many people think through a more engaged approach of doing
I code similarly to how I write, which is similar to how I draw etc. I start with very rough ideas and sketches, then I gradually iterate over those, refining ideas and throwing bits away. And eventually I have a working version/first draft/etc
I just can't get things done if I were to try and think of the entire solution first before getting anything down on paper. Maybe that's an ADHD thing, needing to let the idea take form lest it runs away and I get lost in the weeds
It's less "spewing tons of code" though and more starting with an outline, stub functions and comments to break up the steps before filling those out.
As someone who has been on the interviewer side: this is an indicator of how much the interviewee "thinks first"; the ones who immediately start spewing tons of code are usually those who don't really have a good understanding of what they're trying to do.