I don't think we can evaluate whether someone can do a decent job in 45 minutes. Or an hour. Sure, we can spot and confirm a hopeless case in 20. But beyond that, an hour is simply not enough.
I've been involved in hiring and interviewing for close to 15 years. The best results have been with candidates with whom I've arranged to have at least 90 minutes, and where that time ended up being well spent. It takes a while to get comfortable, to warm up, to establish a common ground. And it sure as hell takes time to actually discuss a technical problem, whether it's design or a programming problem, as the solution unfolds.
The desire to shoehorn an interview into at most 1-hour slots is not designed to find the best candidates. From where I look at things, it's designed around the idea that most business meetings are booked for one hour each, and the cadence in the day must fit the business of, well, doing business. And it kind of works, because everyone (or near it) has the context and shape of the problem fairly clear in their heads.
But for an interview? A process, where by definition you are dealing with people who are not well versed in your business? Companies book 1-hour interview slots because it's convenient - for their employees, including those who have no part in the interview process, but who are expected to attend other 1-hour meetings with the people who are involved.
The gauntlet of 1-hour interviews feels like a very much intended consequence of the organisation thinking in terms of 1-hour slots for everything. The result is a grueling exercise very few like, and almost everyone with experience despises. It's bad for the candidates, it's bad for interviewers, and I'm pretty sure it's bad for the companies.
But it keeps getting done that way because the cargo-cult of 1-hour slots for everything can not be reasoned with, or deviated from, results be damned.
Just think how well you would do the engineering and programming part of your profession if you had to carve everything into 1-hour slots. After all, PG wrote about it back in 2009: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
There's your problem. Right there.
I don't think we can evaluate whether someone can do a decent job in 45 minutes. Or an hour. Sure, we can spot and confirm a hopeless case in 20. But beyond that, an hour is simply not enough.
I've been involved in hiring and interviewing for close to 15 years. The best results have been with candidates with whom I've arranged to have at least 90 minutes, and where that time ended up being well spent. It takes a while to get comfortable, to warm up, to establish a common ground. And it sure as hell takes time to actually discuss a technical problem, whether it's design or a programming problem, as the solution unfolds.
The desire to shoehorn an interview into at most 1-hour slots is not designed to find the best candidates. From where I look at things, it's designed around the idea that most business meetings are booked for one hour each, and the cadence in the day must fit the business of, well, doing business. And it kind of works, because everyone (or near it) has the context and shape of the problem fairly clear in their heads.
But for an interview? A process, where by definition you are dealing with people who are not well versed in your business? Companies book 1-hour interview slots because it's convenient - for their employees, including those who have no part in the interview process, but who are expected to attend other 1-hour meetings with the people who are involved.
The gauntlet of 1-hour interviews feels like a very much intended consequence of the organisation thinking in terms of 1-hour slots for everything. The result is a grueling exercise very few like, and almost everyone with experience despises. It's bad for the candidates, it's bad for interviewers, and I'm pretty sure it's bad for the companies.
But it keeps getting done that way because the cargo-cult of 1-hour slots for everything can not be reasoned with, or deviated from, results be damned.
Just think how well you would do the engineering and programming part of your profession if you had to carve everything into 1-hour slots. After all, PG wrote about it back in 2009: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html