I have ~20 years of experience in programming. The hardest part of my work is knowing if I have everything I need in order to classify a particular problem as one of a particular class so that I then can apply the tools that I know of would fit that problem-space and then use those tools to finish my task. For example, is the problem I'm facing a graph problem? If so, then I have a large set of tools (algorithms) to help me solve that problem. But is it a graph problem? It would suck for my employer or client, if I tried to solve a problem within a particular problem-space with tools suted for a different domain. It's kind of like that part of the Swedish standardized test where they test your math and logical abilities by presenting some information and then asking you, do you have what you need to solve this? If so, what is the answer?Coding on a white board is useful I have come to find if there is a conversation going on and the interviewer use this opportunity to find out more about how this particular person thinks or works.
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