Any attempt to criticize the "code on a whiteboard" style of interviewing that doesn't even engage with the fact that many of the best software engineering organizations in the world use this method is suspect from the very beginning.
If this style of interviewing is so awful, then how do these companies have such great engineering teams? I'm not saying there aren't reasonable approaches here, but you must try or your essay isn't worthwhile.
If this style of interviewing is so awful, then how do these companies have such great engineering teams?
(1) Companies like yours (Foursquare) hire conservatively to avoid false positives. You can afford to do this because...
(2) Great orgs have selection bias. You receive so many applications that you can afford to toss out all but the best. Put bluntly: only great devs make it to your office for an interview.
(3) Whiteboards are not the only test. We both know that, while Foursquare asks people to code on whiteboards, it isn't the only component of your interview. You vet people very heavily before inviting them in.
(4) This article addresses shitty whiteboard interviews. From what I recall, you guys don't have shitty whiteboard interviews.
I'll turn the question around, actually: can you point me to a great company who only hires people through whiteboard coding?
Bill Clinton presided over the dotcom boom and some historically high NYSE numbers. Does that make him an economic wizard?
It's not hard to see a parallel between Clinton's economic policies and Google's interview policies. Both get credit for outcomes that may have been caused by other factors entirely.
I agree that this is possible. I'm just saying that if you don't engage with this issue at all in your essay (as the OP failed to do), then your essay is missing a very key issue and should be largely discredited.
If this style of interviewing is so awful, then how do these companies have such great engineering teams? I'm not saying there aren't reasonable approaches here, but you must try or your essay isn't worthwhile.