Years ago when I first graduated went to an interview for a Java dev role. Spent the full day there getting pulled apart by whiteboard interviews, exam papers, and daft questions that would have no real day-to-day use in a dev role. Even worse was I asked at the end of the day what kind of work I could be expected to do and found out there was very little actual dev work; maybe some maintenance tasks but mostly support. I became pretty bitter about tech interviews after that.
Sadly interviews like that became a regular fixture and some were even worse. In a few I even had take-home assignments where I was to implement a full-project from scratch then present it at the interview (as well as all that other crummy interview stuff). I even got heavily criticised/insulted in one for prioritising my current job over the assignment and was told if I really wanted the position I "should've moved heaven and earth" - pretty deranged to ask someone to risk their income for an unpaid assignment if you ask me but anyways.
With that being said, I do think interviews are becoming better. They're less about blowing smoke up the interviewers arse and more about judging how good a fit they are for the company. Interviews tend to feel more collaborative and white-boarding sessions aren't a test but a discussion, with the best language agnostic. Hopefully they keep going this way.
Sadly interviews like that became a regular fixture and some were even worse. In a few I even had take-home assignments where I was to implement a full-project from scratch then present it at the interview (as well as all that other crummy interview stuff). I even got heavily criticised/insulted in one for prioritising my current job over the assignment and was told if I really wanted the position I "should've moved heaven and earth" - pretty deranged to ask someone to risk their income for an unpaid assignment if you ask me but anyways.
With that being said, I do think interviews are becoming better. They're less about blowing smoke up the interviewers arse and more about judging how good a fit they are for the company. Interviews tend to feel more collaborative and white-boarding sessions aren't a test but a discussion, with the best language agnostic. Hopefully they keep going this way.