You need someone who can get the job done... (Score 1)

What gets lost in tech interviews is that, most often, you don't need the next Turing to get the job done. A lot of times people do tech interviews of problems that are overly complex thinking that if they get those, they can handle the *real* work instead of figuring out if they can get the actual job done. This weeds out too many people. I'm partial to algorithm tests, but what's of value is the discussion of how they approach the problem and how they handle roadblocks in the solution more than knowing certain technical details of the top of their head. If a candidate gets stuck it's acceptable, even preferred, for them to say "I'd brainstorm with the team" or "google topic X, Y, Z for ideas." In my experience, attitude is 80% of the job, out of the box technical abilities is 20%. You can teach technical skills to a good person who wants to learn, works well with others, has a desire to solve problem easier than resolving team issues with a technical genius who can't work with others. In my mental list of worst employees I've dealt with, they've all generally been highly technical experts. So, these tests are good for conversation starters, but I don't believe they should be used to weed out people. Assuming, of course, you're looking for a long term employee.