[ryx]

I work as an engineering manager at a medium-sized company and my experience is fundamentally different from what some of you describe. I gave up to do any live-coding or higher-level algorithm questions at all. For me the main challenge in a software engineer‘s daily work is product problem solving and that’s what we aim for in our interviews.

Especially with recent advances in AI-assistance it becomes more and more crucial to learn fast, and have the ability to apply knowledge to actual problems, no matter where the knowledge originates from. That, solid bug-hunting capabilities and a good understanding of the big picture and the business problem you are trying to solve.

I‘d even argue that nowadays communication skills are much more important than any memorized knowledge about algorithms or a given technology. Communication is what makes you a successful developer, ironically - even when prompting an AI assistant.

Fun fact: 10 years ago I had an exam-like testsheet that I handed out to candidates and gave them one hour to fill it out, including paper-based coding. It makes me feel seriously embarrassed when thinking about that with today's experience :) ..