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1. Does Stress Impact Technical Interview Performance?

   Behroozi, Mahnaz; Shirolkar, Shivani; Barik, Titus; Parnin, Chris (January 2020, ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering)

   Software engineering candidates commonly participate in whiteboard technical interviews as part of a hiring assessment. During these sessions, candidates write code while thinking aloud as they work towards a solution, under the watchful eye of an interviewer. While technical interviews should allow for an unbiased and inclusive assessment of problem-solving ability, surprisingly, technical interviews may be instead a procedure for identifying candidates who best handle and migrate stress solely caused by being examined by an interviewer (performance anxiety). To understand if coding interviews---as administered today---can induce stress that significantly hinders performance, we conducted a randomized controlled trial with 48 Computer Science students, comparing them in private and public whiteboard settings. We found that performance is reduced by more than half, by simply being watched by an interviewer. We also observed that stress and cognitive load were significantly higher in a traditional technical interview when compared with our private interview. Consequently, interviewers may be filtering out qualified candidates by confounding assessment of problem-solving ability with unnecessary stress. We propose interview modifications to make problem-solving assessment more equitable and inclusive, such as through private focus sessions and retrospective think-aloud, allowing companies to hire from a larger and diverse pool of talent. 

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2. Debugging Hiring: What Went Right and What Went Wrong in the Technical Interview Process

   Behroozi, Mahnaz; Shirolkar, Shivani; Barik, Titus; Parnin, Chris (May 2020, ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), SEIS Track)

   The typical hiring pipeline for software engineering occurs over several stages—from phone screening and technical on-site interviews, to offer and negotiation. When these hiring pipelines are “leaky,” otherwise qualified candidates are lost at some stage of the pipeline. These leaky pipelines impact companies in several ways, including hindering a company’s ability to recruit competitive candidates and build diverse software teams. To understand where candidates become disengaged in the hiring pipeline—and what companies can do to prevent it—we conducted a qualitative study on over 10,000 reviews on 19 companies from Glassdoor, a website where candidates can leave reviews about their hiring process experiences. We identified several poor practices which prematurely sabotage the hiring process—for example, not adequately communicating hiring criteria, conducting interviews with inexperienced interviewers, and ghosting candidates. Our findings provide a set of guidelines to help companies improve their hiring pipeline practices—such as being deliberate about phrasing and language during initial contact with the candidate, providing candidates with constructive feedback after their interviews, and bringing salary transparency and long-term career discussions into offers and negotiations. Operationalizing these guidelines helps make the hiring pipeline more transparent, fair, and inclusive. 

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3. Creative Problem-Solving: A Study With Blind and Low Vision Software Professionals

   https://doi.org/10.1109/CHASE66643.2025.00014  

   Kohl, Karina; Cha, Yoonha; Jackson, Victoria; Branham, Stacy; van_der_Hoek, André; Prikladnicki, Rafael (April 2025, IEEE)

   Background: Software engineering requires both technical skills and creative problem-solving. Blind and lowvision software professionals (BLVSPs) encounter numerous workplace challenges, including inaccessible tools and collaboration hurdles with sighted colleagues. Objective: This study explores the innovative strategies employed by BLVSPs to overcome these accessibility barriers, focusing on their custom solutions and the importance of supportive communities. Methodology: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 BLVSPs and used reflexive thematic analysis to identify key themes. Results: Findings reveal that BLVSPs are motivated to develop creative and adaptive solutions, highlighting the vital role of collaborative communities in fostering shared problem-solving. Conclusion: For BLVSPs, creative problem-solving is essential for navigating inaccessible work environments, in contrast to sighted peers, who pursue optimization. This study enhances understanding of how BLVSPs navigate accessibility challenges through innovation. 

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4. "Do You Want Me to Participate or Not?": Investigating the Accessibility of Software Development Meetings for Blind and Low Vision Professionals

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642130  

   Cha, Yoonha; Figueira, Isabela; Ayala, Jessy; Edwards, Emory James; Garcia, Joshua; van_der_Hoek, André; Branham, Stacy Marie (May 2024, ACM)

   Scholars have investigated numerous barriers to accessible software development tools and processes for Blind and Low Vision (BLV) developers. However, the research community has yet to study the accessibility of software development meetings, which are known to play a crucial role in software development practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 BLV software professionals about software development meeting accessibility. We found four key themes related to in-person and remote software development meetings: (1) participants observed that certain meeting activities and software tools used in meetings were inaccessible, (2) participants performed additional labor in order to make meetings accessible, (3) participants avoided disclosing their disability during meetings due to fear of career repercussions, (4) participants suggested technical, social and organizational solutions for accessible meetings, including developing their own solutions. We suggest recommendations and design implications for future accessible software development meetings including technical and policy-driven solutions. 

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5. Innovative Courses that Broaden Awareness of CS Careers and Prepare Students for Technical Interviews

   Griffin, J.; Burge, L.; Goldman, S.; Aguirre, D.; Alonso Cruz, J.; Alvarez, A.; Cervantes, A.; Emanuel, S.; Gates, A.; Gillick, D.; et al (November 2022, Journal of computing sciences in colleges)

   Lu, B.; Alvin, C. (Ed.)

   While undergraduate Computer Science (CS) degree programs typically prepare students for well-established roles (e.g. software developer, professor, and designer), several emergent CS career roles have gained prominence during the 21st century. CS majors (and students considering CS as a major) are often unaware of the wide range of careers available to job candidates with a CS background. This experience report describes seven innovative courses that broaden awareness of CS career roles and prepare students for technical interviews. Five courses prepared students for these career roles: Full-Stack Developer, Product Manager, ML or NLU Scientist, Technical Entrepreneur, and User Experience Designer/Developer/Researcher. The other two courses had traditional content but explicitly prepared students for technical interviews. These courses were co-developed by industry professionals and CS professors, and co-taught during a semester-long academic program. This paper highlights the replicable aspects of the program: the courses, teaching practices, and evaluation instruments (a teaching practices inventory and a data structures inventory). 

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