That's one of the most interesting interview techniques I've heard described before. It reminds me a lot of thesis defenses. Usually the candidate gets asked softball questions at first (mostly to warm up as everyone assumes the candidate can answer those questions). As it goes on, the questions get deeper and more thorough with the added bonus of the questions being changed mid-answer. Although sometimes there's the rapid fire questions in different sub-fields to force you into quick gear shifting. To be honest I love these types of grillings--they can be a lot of fun. Like you said, it's the absolute best way to truly gauge your competence and deftness at something and see where your biggest shortcomings are.
Funny story (well, not really "funny"): I had a completed game by GDC last year. I was planning to ask you for a critique, but I changed my mind last minute. Primary reason being that I decided my entire code base was garbage and not worth a critique--I really needed to start the entire thing over from scratch. It was full of bad ideas and hack jobs. I got plenty of feedback from other sources about my resume, background, and skill-set to make me realize I really wasn't ready for this industry. Hence, the goal is on hold while I build up my skills in the meantime. At some point I might detail out the story if it's a successful one
Originally posted by rezination
As another example of what I mean, let's look at the last GDC. I issued a challenge to the community to come up with a full-on game that they felt was complete. I would offer a professional critique and recommend those that were really good to the gods of hiring here at EA. This is something I would have KILLED for when I was just starting out. I would have stayed up for days on end (consequences be damned!) just to finish and polish it. Hell, even if it were just the critique... that's what I really wanted.
So when GDC came around, how many people met that challenge? Only one. Regardless of skill, I would rather hire that one engineer who demonstrated an ability to finish a project and talk about it then an army of people who have never finished anything. It's important to note that this isn't new. This sort of response is pretty typical whenever I issue similar challenges. Actually, the fact that one person pushed through and asked for the critique was very surprising.
Funny story (well, not really "funny"): I had a completed game by GDC last year. I was planning to ask you for a critique, but I changed my mind last minute. Primary reason being that I decided my entire code base was garbage and not worth a critique--I really needed to start the entire thing over from scratch. It was full of bad ideas and hack jobs. I got plenty of feedback from other sources about my resume, background, and skill-set to make me realize I really wasn't ready for this industry. Hence, the goal is on hold while I build up my skills in the meantime. At some point I might detail out the story if it's a successful one