Using Logic Puzzles in Interviews

I have never been a fan of using logic puzzles in the hiring process. The practice apparently originated at Microsoft. The idea for using them is based in the fact that technology is always changing. And so you don't want to test anyone on a current technology, but rather on their general logic abilities which will let you know whether they will continue to be useful to the company in the future when it has to adopt new technologies. This line of reasoning is compelling and it seems like a lot of tech companies have accepted it.

Personally, I don't buy the argument. For one thing I don't see why the puzzle necessarily tests someone's logic abilities better than a programming test, which gives someone a formal way to reason - the programming language. It also does not necessarily follow that someone who can solve logic puzzles well is going to be any good at programming which has all kinds of constraints and doesn't rely on clever tricks. I think it's far better to give someone a real programming problem that you have at work and see how they go about solving it. As it's a real work problem, you should be familiar with the details and some of the approaches to solving it. From this familiarity with the problem you should be able to tell more about someone's ability to reason and think logically, then from a puzzle which has no context.

As for whether a potential programmer will be able to move on to other technologies or languages, it makes more sense to me to see how they understand the concepts behind what they are doing and also to get a sense of what kind of person they are. When it comes to learning a new technology, what you need more than some general logical abilities is good curiosity and motivation.