Why is it that no one questions the system in which these —at best, ridiculously obtuse—at worst, totally corrupt, often nepotistic— “interviews” reside? The whole “interview/audition” culture comes out of a kind of gladiator/Olympic ethos that pits "commoners" against one another for the amusement of the powerful, while solidifying the collective deception that keeps them in power. It’s a lever workers hand over willingly because the other mythology—the one in which their genius and hard work “earned” them their position—is an identity narrative they can’t survive the despair of corporate culture without. But haven’t the critical thinkers among us agreed that when the starting bootstraps are of different lengths, we can’t trust our notions of “merit-based” reward? Celebrities bribing their kids into college is but one of the more languid manifestations of the bankruptcy of this belief system. When we play along in this gerrymandered Miss America pagent—what now passes for job interviews in tech—we legitimize and endorse these so-called “measurements". We need to collectively refuse to participate, with some vehemence and volume. We must stop trying to make fairer versions of this fundamentally dishonest bullshit. There is no fair Three Card Monty; it’s a trick! Back in the day, the only folks who would play that game around 42nd St. were tourists or kids who’d just moved to the city. This interview process is the same; you can only pull it on the green, which is why it selects for the young and desperate. Hey! Young and Desperate! You are way smarter and better than this.
For those looking for actual data, like the post’s author who says as much, one could turn to the classical music “industry”. This audition process where “the best man wins” was exactly that for many, many years, until someone thought to put up a screen and down a carpeted walkway, and well, what do you know?...when the candidates were truly anonymous, women started winning. Here’s an article http://gap.hks.harvard.edu/orchestrating-impartiality-impact..., one of many on this study. So that trick was revealed, but ultimately, the idea that they would select the “best” players of orchestral excerpts resulted in them looking for players who rivaled computers in accuracy. Unfortunately, that isn’t really what one wants in an art. Anyone there has the accuracy required in spades. Accuracy beyond that is just meat compiling. It turns out that classical orchestras populated by this kind of person lack morale, creativity and vitality and don’t evolve with the culture, so these organizations have become culturally dead and are going bankrupt all over the country—this after their members were forced to let go of any real compensation and all dignity. The problem is that most organizations like these and tech companies are top-down. They are run like the military; their basic training programs are even called “boot camps”, and like boot camps, they won’t get you much. We need to take a look at the whole system, I’m afraid, or it will suffer a fate similar to music in this country, because that’s what happens here, eventually.