> It's helpful if they want to talk about side projects or war stories, but doesn't pressure them to.
I like leading with that, and am a big fan of the initial "what's an interesting problem you had to solve?" question, but I made the unfortunate experience that even people with good war stories are sometimes very shaky in the basics of the particular subfield I'm interviewing for. To the point of deeming someone not a good match for our team, but encouraging them and internal recruiters to interview with other teams.
There is ultimately no full substitute for getting down to brass tacks and actually do some "sample work" together. Whiteboard coding is the usual (and, I guess, often poorly implemented) approach, but I've used reading existing code, with added intentional mistakes, to great success so far.
EDIT: Just read your new reply in a sibling thread that you're doing that anyway, and project and war stories are supplemental. It seems like we're in agreement, then!
I like leading with that, and am a big fan of the initial "what's an interesting problem you had to solve?" question, but I made the unfortunate experience that even people with good war stories are sometimes very shaky in the basics of the particular subfield I'm interviewing for. To the point of deeming someone not a good match for our team, but encouraging them and internal recruiters to interview with other teams.
There is ultimately no full substitute for getting down to brass tacks and actually do some "sample work" together. Whiteboard coding is the usual (and, I guess, often poorly implemented) approach, but I've used reading existing code, with added intentional mistakes, to great success so far.
EDIT: Just read your new reply in a sibling thread that you're doing that anyway, and project and war stories are supplemental. It seems like we're in agreement, then!