It is well documented in social psychology that individuals have a hard time with difficult tasks in front of others because their working memory is monitoring the social situation. It is called "social facilitation theory." Technical interviewing is not based on any kind of evidence based HR practices but is entirely instinctual. My pet theory is that the whiteboarding / coderpad epidemic is really a status hierarchy game where individuals make it clear 'if you want to work here, you are going to do what I say.'
Same story here. Never got a BA, mainly because I was raised in a culture of poverty. By the time I was working as an engineer in 2000's SF it never made sense to go back. Now I feel discriminated against by organizations who feel it is a requirement. Luckily at 39 years of age with former employer prepping for an IPO I'm ready to go back to my blue collar roots and start building homes in the Sierra foothills.
This is great. I suspect the "coding exercises" in interviews are really dominance hierarchy games. It goes against politeness theory and is a threat to an individual's 'negative face' or need for autonomy.
