Technical Interviews are Broken​

Let’s get this out in the open. Everyone knows the coding interview process is bogus. Leetcode algorithms, rehearsed STAR questions, and 8-hour take-home assignments tell us next to nothing about a candidate. It selects for people who are either lucky, stubborn, or confident and thick-skinned. People with minimal family obligations or community involvement. Able to grind out 600 miserable hours on leetcode, and enough money to not work while they do it. It also screens out people who are reflective, collaborative, or sensitive. These high-stakes, unfamiliar settings can activate the brain’s stress circuits. Neuroscientists tell us that the amygdala interprets social evaluation as a threat, which can shut down access to the very skills we’re trying to assess: problem-solving, clear thinking, and communication. But choking in these contexts doesn’t mean a candidate is weak or unqualified. In fact, it’s often the opposite. These are people with finely tuned self-monitoring systems. Given psychological safety and time to integrate, they often become your strongest teammates.