The Conversation Test: Engineering Hiring's Missing Signal

Traditional hiring methods like whiteboard coding and take-home tests evaluate code artifacts rather than thinking processes, missing the problem-solving and decision-making skills that define real engineering work. These methods can't reveal where candidates struggled, what they tried, or the conviction behind their choices—information visible only through direct conversation. Modern engineering requires product-level reasoning and team communication, capabilities that emerge only when discussing a candidate's actual work, not reviewing their code in isolation.