The interview was a 1-hour video conference meeting that included a coding exercise. Heads up to anyone who interviews here: take control of the situation as best you can.

The interviewer joined, and we engaged in some small talk. After about 10 minutes, a coding sample was presented on one of the programming sites. There was no established duration for the exercise; if this happens, simply ask them how long you have.

It could be, as is often the case in programming, that you kick it around for 5 or 10 minutes, then some clarity kicks in for a best/better solution. The interviewer continued to talk to me, which served no obvious purpose. This was not a design question but a coding exercise without a lot of grey area. If this happens to you, maybe just politely tell them you have the gist of the problem and do your best without too much conversation.

Lastly, there was a lot of extraneous noise on the call with notifications going off the whole time, and the interviewer seemed to be looking over his shoulder constantly. There's not much you can do about this; maybe mute them to eliminate the noise.

I don't think the interviewer was a bad guy; he might have even liked it if I had made some assertive requests. Oh well, live and learn. I came up with a lukewarm solution that was functional but not the best solution.

There was some conversation about my background, but nothing significant beyond the coding exercise.