I call these high stakes interviews "the perfect dismount".
You can feel the pressure mount - any algorithm that doesn't run on the first try or second (with a couple of quick fixes) and you're being mentally discounted.
The same for silence - if you're thinking through something, take abnormally too long, you're discounted.
The Perfect Dismount. A 10.0 is what's needed to land a FAANG job.
I just pulled out my laptop and if they aren't cool with the solution I google'd in 30 seconds, they can test my critical thinking in another manner. That was my critical thinking and resolve under pressure.
These are nothing but shit test.
What are shit tests? When somebody fucks with your head to see how you will react, what you are experiencing is typically a (series of) shit test(s). Everyone has been shit tested, gets shit tested and will continue to be shit tested; We use shit tests to make value judgements about people, likewise they can be used to determine how people cope under pressure. The underlying mechanism of shit tests is to test your mettle.
You can feel the pressure mount - any algorithm that doesn't run on the first try or second (with a couple of quick fixes) and you're being mentally discounted.
The same for silence - if you're thinking through something, take abnormally too long, you're discounted.
The Perfect Dismount. A 10.0 is what's needed to land a FAANG job.