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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> interview puzzle questions vs age discrimination
        
(Message started by: amichail on Oct 5th, 2007, 5:22pm)
Title: interview puzzle questions vs age discrimination
Post by amichail on Oct 5th, 2007, 5:22pm
Are CS/math puzzles used in technical interviews an attempt to keep older people out?

If so, isn't this age discrimination and hence illegal?

Even if it is not done on purpose, if that is indeed the end result, then shouldn't this still be illegal?
Title: Re: interview puzzle questions vs age discriminati
Post by rmsgrey on Oct 5th, 2007, 5:50pm
Are older applicants equally likely to be capable of doing the job? If not, then anything that discriminates between people on the basis of their ability to do the job is going to favour younger applicants because they're more often capable.

Possibly, it is, in fact, illegal to discriminate between applicants on the basis of ability, but that's a pretty big can of worms in its own right.
Title: Re: interview puzzle questions vs age discriminati
Post by amichail on Oct 5th, 2007, 5:52pm

on 10/05/07 at 17:50:11, rmsgrey wrote:
Are older applicants equally likely to be capable of doing the job? If not, then anything that discriminates between people on the basis of their ability to do the job is going to favour younger applicants because they're more often capable.

In terms of puzzle solving, one would need clear scientific evidence that puzzle solving is correlated with programming ability.

It may be for example that aging doesn't affect people's programming skills as much as it does their puzzle solving ability say.  Or it may also be that aging helps with high-level design although low-level implementation suffers.

Also, this situation applies to other groups of people as well -- not just older people.
Title: Re: interview puzzle questions vs age discriminati
Post by towr on Oct 6th, 2007, 12:54pm
Some method to discriminate between candidates is necessary, because they can't hire everyone, and flipping a coin isn't any basis for a hirign policy.
If puzzle solving doesn't correlate with general intelligence, at least it would result into a worker base with a shared interest, and hence better synergy.

Besides, is solving the puzzles even the point? Or rather how a candidate approaches a problem?


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