A lot of people are saying that technical interviews are not good because some people are not good at them but they are indeed good software developers.
Other people are saying that is impossible to judge someone in a few hours of technical interviews/exercises.
I agree with both, but what's a better alternative? How to you minimise the risk of taking hiring a bad developer? At least, it is my belief that the technical interviews minimise the risk which is far better that ending up hiring someone who is not technically strong.
What I do is ask them about previous projects. 1. What was your favorite project and why? Explain. 2. What was your least favorite project and why? Explain.
I can get a good idea of the person through those two simple questions. I throw a few simple technical questions like: What is a primary key? What is a foreign key? What is inheritance? What's the difference between a function and a procedure (Delphi days). Questions that anyone should be able to answer just by writing code.
Other people are saying that is impossible to judge someone in a few hours of technical interviews/exercises.
I agree with both, but what's a better alternative? How to you minimise the risk of taking hiring a bad developer? At least, it is my belief that the technical interviews minimise the risk which is far better that ending up hiring someone who is not technically strong.