Here's what I think it boils down to: working on a codebase with your coworkers is (or at least certainly should be) an inherently collaborative process. On the other hand, a job interview is, in a sense, inherently antagonistic. No matter what shape the interview takes, these people aren't your friends, they aren't your coworkers, they are gatekeepers.
I already have a job as a programmer. At work, I can push back on my coworkers and debate the merits of various designs until we all reach a consensus. But with the Teleport interview, there's an inherent power imbalance that makes that impossible: "I'd really like to argue about this, because I don't think I agree, but I'm afraid that will decrease the chances of them hiring me."
And the only people who are in a position to change this process are the ones who have already gotten through it successfully.
From my perspective you’re unfairly projecting bad faith onto Teleport and shooting your self in the foot in the process.
1) You’re assuming that a good faith argument would decrease the chances of us hiring you, but for the most part that isn’t the case. We’re an engineering company building a complex security product — the only way that can be done well is via a culture that’s perennially open to criticism, debate, and going with the better argument. In my tenure at Teleport, I’ve never experienced explicit or implicit punishment for voicing my opinion, even when it contradicted a more senior engineer’s opinion. The argument has always been evaluated on its merits and the correct option taken. An interviewee making a good argument and proving an interviewer wrong should, and based on my experience would, increase your chances of being hired.
2) I can imagine you retorting that even if that’s truly the case at Teleport, there’s no way you could know that beforehand, and due to the “antagonistic” nature of us being the “gatekeepers”, you’re forced to assume the worst. But if your goal is to work in a collaborative environment where criticism and debate is tolerated, then your implicit strategy makes no sense. If Teleport is that type of place you’d like to work, then pushback in the interview process will be well received; if it isn’t, then you won’t even get an offer. So you have nothing to lose by giving your true opinion, but if you assume the worst and self censor in an attempt to brown nose the hiring team, you risk ending up in a shitty work environment that you were hoping to avoid.
Yep imbalance, dynamics, so much to skew the process. If you think your interview process works, great, but likely it doesnt and you just get lucky. All the good people you screened out vs all the cruft you saved yourself from.. you will never know....!
Being a programmer isnt about what you know, its about how you learn. Born programmers vs learned programmers, you got a coding test for that? really? If you think you can screen anything more then selecting for familiarity; your been sniffing that corperate glue for too long.
If you come to me thinking i am suitable for a job, you reach out via linked in, you see my public repos, then ask me to code for you on demand like a monkey?! Pull the other one!
(not referncing OP, general comment on interview processes)
Here's what I think it boils down to: working on a codebase with your coworkers is (or at least certainly should be) an inherently collaborative process. On the other hand, a job interview is, in a sense, inherently antagonistic. No matter what shape the interview takes, these people aren't your friends, they aren't your coworkers, they are gatekeepers.
I already have a job as a programmer. At work, I can push back on my coworkers and debate the merits of various designs until we all reach a consensus. But with the Teleport interview, there's an inherent power imbalance that makes that impossible: "I'd really like to argue about this, because I don't think I agree, but I'm afraid that will decrease the chances of them hiring me."
And the only people who are in a position to change this process are the ones who have already gotten through it successfully.