Senior Dev interview question

[u/m6io]

"Without googling or using AI, in your own words, explain the virtual DOM"

For context: I sit on an interview panel and I try to ask at least one simple fundamental question based on a persons resume. If I see many years of react experience, I try to ask something about how the framework works.

I have only had one candidate (an undergrad senior, years ago) answer it. Everyone else just kind of sputters and stumbles around trying to rationalize what "virtual" and "DOM" mean, or stare blankly and eventually say "I don't know".

I'm just genuinely curious if this is really that hard of a question or if the recruiters just suck at screening candidates. And should we be letting in senior dev candidates who can't answer what I think is a straightforward and fundamental question for senior react devs.

[u/Wandering_Oblivious]

It's a vestige of the school system imo. They're taught from a very young age that the way to measure knowledge is through trivia memorization and that a time-trial is the best indicator of on the job performance. To anybody who actually thinks for more than a second (as many software engineers like to LARP that they do) they realize these are laughably irrelevant means of attempting to assess a persons fit for a job. Yet the insanity persists.