When evaluating tech candidates, it’s easy to assume that putting them under pressure reveals how skilled they really are. After all, “real work is stressful,” right? But what if the very way we structure interviews is skewed – not toward assessing capability, but toward triggering stress responses?
This is where the concept of cognitive load comes in – a psychological principle that explains how much mental effort a person can handle at once. And it’s something we, as recruiters and hiring managers, can’t afford to ignore.
What Is Cognitive Load?
Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. It’s not just about how “smart” someone is – it’s about how much they can process under certain conditions. There are three types:
· Intrinsic load (the complexity of the task itself)
· Extraneous load (how the task is presented)
· Germane load (the effort toward learning and understanding)
In interviews, extraneous load is often the biggest issue. Poorly explained tasks, vague expectations, time pressure, and lack of psychological safety can all pile up, creating noise that blocks a candidate from showing their real skill.
The Problem with “Stress Interviews”
When a developer is given an ambiguous task, a tight timer, and an unfamiliar interface – possibly while being silently watched – they’re not just solving a coding problem. They’re battling nerves, uncertainty, and adrenaline.
And here’s the catch: you’re not just testing their skills – you’re testing how well they perform under unnatural pressure.
This can unfairly disadvantage excellent developers who are calm, thoughtful, and detail-oriented in real-world settings but struggle to “perform” in artificial ones. Worse, it often favors those who are simply better at performing under pressure – not necessarily those who are better at the job.
How High Cognitive Load Skews Interviews
If we imagine two candidates:
· One is calm and skilled but not great at thinking aloud on camera.
· The other is confident, quick on their feet, but with weaker fundamentals.
In a high-stress technical interview, who shines? Likely the second one. But in a real team setting, especially on long-term projects, the first may actually outperform.
By creating high cognitive load environments, companies often end up filtering for the wrong traits – favoring short-term performance over long-term value.
What to Do Instead
Creating low-cognitive-load interviews doesn’t mean making them easy. It means making them fair, clear, and relevant:
· Give clear instructions and context.
· Let candidates ask clarifying questions.
· Offer take-home tasks where applicable.
· Normalize pauses, thinking time, and saying “I don’t know.”
· Consider pairing technical questions with discussions – not just code sprints.
· Be transparent about what you’re evaluating.
The goal isn’t to eliminate challenge – it’s to remove unnecessary confusion so you’re evaluating skill, not survival instincts.
Rethinking Interview Pressure
Tech interviews should simulate real work environments, not exam halls. If your goal is to find thoughtful, capable developers who thrive in your team – not just those who ace pressure tests – then being mindful of cognitive load is a must.
Because in the end, you’re not just hiring for how someone performs in 45 minutes. You’re hiring for what they’ll build with your team in the next 2+ years.