Ask HN: How do you handle coding tasks for interview

Well, generally, if you're wanting to do TDD/BDD, start with the tests first. Then write your code until the tests pass. That being said, TDD/BDD isn't exactly a timesaver in most cases, so I'd understand why you'd do it in the opposite order.

But anyway, to answer your question: I write a crappy/sloppy solution first, as fast I can. No thinking... just pretend you're coding for fun on a low-stakes project that nobody will ever see. Then I go back and try to plan a better way to do it. If I can refactor/recode it before the timer goes off, then that's great. If I can't, no biggie.

Well, my first bit of advice would be to avoid HN/FB/Twitter/etc during high pressure situations. Forgive my misunderstanding if you didn't mean you were literally halfway through it while posting.

That brings me to about half way through my allotted time and then I start to panic.

I recently had a candidate experience a panic attack during an interview. I felt badly (I've dealt with anxiety/panic myself) for him but there was nothing to do about it... the interview ended and of course he didn't get an offer. Point is: if you're prone to panic in high pressure situations it's nothing to be ashamed of but something you'll have to deal with as a separate issue.

There are a zillion amazing strategies for managing anxiety; meditation, breathing exercises, playing music and petting cats are the ones that I prefer.

Beyond anxiety, it might serve you a change of perspective. Don't think of the interview as an engineering problem, it is a communication problem. Even if you don't finish it, it should be salvageable by explaining all the things you considered and were about to consider. If they don't value this, it is their loss. And, Honestly, they did you a favor, a nice place to work would respect your time and listen after making you work on a test.

One frustrating thing in my opinion is that coding challenges only measure CS skills like data structures, DP, graph. While important those are not as relevant as more specific knowledge like HTML5, iOS, Android, etc.

This makes me think you might be in that small space where you are a decent programmer, but still don't have enough experience to be confident.

If that's the case, don't worry, it gets easier in time, at least in my case it did.

I knew I was going to be given a couple of tests on https://codility.com/ so I practiced for a few hours on example problems I found online before. It really helped.