Seems good, I like the choice.
In discussions on this topic I see a lot of: "Programming on the spot is hard, let people program at home"! But then other people say "Why should I program for free at home, my resume clearly shows I am already a skilled programmer. All this will do is cater to young people without families, or those fresh out of school".
I am not looking to hire devs right now, but I am thinking about the same idea with a tiny tweak when we move to that stage. If the verbal interview goes well, offer 2 choices. Make it clear neither choice is seen as the better choice, and both will be judged equally.
* Sit on a computer with me for an hour, and show me how to code a fairly simple program.
or
* Get a small actual work assignment to take home and code. Would expect it to take maybe 5 hours to code. Offer $500 as a 1099 contractor to complete the assignment within the next 2 weeks or so.
This gives both groups a chance. The too busy to do a big programming assignments can code in front of me for an hour. I should be able to judge their chops pretty fast. For the people more nervous to code in front of me, they can get paid a nominal fee to code some small piece of code.
The only group I exclude is the group that doesn't feel the need to show code to land a job, but not too interested in that group. I have seen too many good talkers and bad coders to want to risk this group.
In discussions on this topic I see a lot of: "Programming on the spot is hard, let people program at home"! But then other people say "Why should I program for free at home, my resume clearly shows I am already a skilled programmer. All this will do is cater to young people without families, or those fresh out of school".
I am not looking to hire devs right now, but I am thinking about the same idea with a tiny tweak when we move to that stage. If the verbal interview goes well, offer 2 choices. Make it clear neither choice is seen as the better choice, and both will be judged equally.
* Sit on a computer with me for an hour, and show me how to code a fairly simple program.
or
* Get a small actual work assignment to take home and code. Would expect it to take maybe 5 hours to code. Offer $500 as a 1099 contractor to complete the assignment within the next 2 weeks or so.
This gives both groups a chance. The too busy to do a big programming assignments can code in front of me for an hour. I should be able to judge their chops pretty fast. For the people more nervous to code in front of me, they can get paid a nominal fee to code some small piece of code.
The only group I exclude is the group that doesn't feel the need to show code to land a job, but not too interested in that group. I have seen too many good talkers and bad coders to want to risk this group.