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Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

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Re: Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

#51

Post by animex »

cagenut wrote: post #37

It kills me that "whiteboarding" has become shorthand for "bad developer interview technique". Meanwhile I'm over here whiteboarding my ass off as a communication tool for complex systems where its much more effective to walk someone through it as you draw it than to present pre-made slides. I love whiteboarding.

I think the OP is talking about coding on a whiteboard. Not solving problems at a higher level or conceptually which is perfectly fine. I love using a whiteboard too for collaborative spit-balling.

Re: Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

#52

Post by amcooper »

brooklyn_ashey wrote: post #42
BigCatStuff wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When auditioning, would the applicant know which pieces of music they will be required to perform beforehand? I am assuming that they do, which would make it very different from 'whiteboarding' from a software engineering interview. In software engineering interviews, most of the time the interviewer will try to have prepared questions that the interviewee has NOT seen before. To make it more like an audition, the qu…

I was just reading along here, and thinking that I’d much rather whiteboard for the rest of my life than ever take another orchestral audition, although each of these practices is only loosely related to what you will do on the job itself. I recently switched to software development from a professional career in classical and jazz music. Here’s the view from the performance hall: A top five orchestral audition (the o…

I've heard about the similarity between orchestral auditions and whiteboard interviews before. As someone who has prepared for whiteboarding interviews at a Big Five firm, I'm fascinated by the comparison. For a while I couldn't figure out how the similarity arose. Today it occurred to me that while in classical music the crisis was caused by the maxing out of demand, in software engineering perhaps it's the rapid growth in supply. By either mechanism you have a slots-to-candidates ratio crisis.

Re: Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

#53

Post by [deleted] »

crdb wrote: post #25

Not quite engineering, but related: Professional orchestras have auditions, where you will perform a piece from the solo repertoire in front of the head of the section you are auditioning for, and a few other key staff (e.g. [1]). Some auditions will include orchestral parts, and you can buy books of famous solos for most instruments. This repertoire has little in common with the kind of playing you will be paid for,…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

#54

Post by bahmboo »

crdb wrote: post #25

Not quite engineering, but related: Professional orchestras have auditions, where you will perform a piece from the solo repertoire in front of the head of the section you are auditioning for, and a few other key staff (e.g. [1]). Some auditions will include orchestral parts, and you can buy books of famous solos for most instruments. This repertoire has little in common with the kind of playing you will be paid for,…

There's a significant difference between musical performance and composition (improvisation combining the two). I would argue that composition is closer to programming than performance, but overall it's a bit apples to oranges. Music is a unique thing.

In front of that whiteboard you have to perform with all that that entails, but you also have to compose.

Re: Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

#55

Post by [deleted] »

bahmboo wrote: post #54
crdb wrote: post #25

Not quite engineering, but related: Professional orchestras have auditions, where you will perform a piece from the solo repertoire in front of the head of the section you are auditioning for, and a few other key staff (e.g. [1]). Some auditions will include orchestral parts, and you can buy books of famous solos for most instruments. This repertoire has little in common with the kind of playing you will be paid for,…

There's a significant difference between musical performance and composition (improvisation combining the two). I would argue that composition is closer to programming than performance, but overall it's a bit apples to oranges. Music is a unique thing. In front of that whiteboard you have to perform with all that that entails, but you also have to compose.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

#56

Post by kk_cz »

jasonkolb wrote: post #39

It's really sad to me that whiteboard is thought of as an interviewing tool. Opened this thread thinking "cool, maybe there are some brainstorming techniques I haven't heard of from other industries" and there's only stuff about interviewing techniques. Maybe I can help. If I need to explore some ideas and there's no whiteboard handy I write on the windows instead. Gotta be prepared when inspiration hits!

extra-points for using permanent markers if whiteboard markers are not handy

Re: Ask HN: Do other fields of engineering have an equivalent to whiteboarding?

#57

Post by avh02 »

closeparen wrote: post #50
avh02 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

jeez, what uni is this? I kind of like the sound of it.

The University of Chicago. [0] [0] http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/computerscienc...

i'm doing my MSc now at a decent uni, i kind of wish i did my undergrad at a decent one too.

oh well.

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