Anyone who has used R# or CodeRush knows how fast you can put together simple constructs (and refactor complex ones) with a simple keyboard shortcut.  However, do these productivity plugins cause a false evaluation of ability during interviews?Part of being a productive code writer (and making a good first impression in an interview) is writing good code - fast.  If I had two candidates:Doesn't use plugins.  She thinks about the problem, sits down at a stock IDE at the interview PC that looks exactly like hers and types out the code in a minute or two, as usual.  Done.  Pass.Uses plugins.  He thinks about the problem, sits down at a stock IDE at the interview PC and realizes fe + tab no longer writes a foreach loop automatically, and all the shortcuts are gone.  He then bumbles around the keyboard hitting his normal hotkeys and popping up strange windows and getting flustered.  It takes him 3 minutes to write what normally would take 30 seconds.  Done.  Looked like they didn't know their way around the IDE at times.  Must be new to this IDE and thus not had much experience with it or maybe the language.  Pass, but a 'meh' mark beside their name.In your experience, how do you handle plugins during interviews as the interviewer or interviewee?  What are the best practices to getting what the candidate really knows?  There can be candidates who don't understand code, and use R# as a crutch.  There can also be candidates who know the code in and out and use R# because it's just plain faster than the built in VS or Eclipse templates.  Is it best to just not use an IDE at all?  Let them bring their own PC?  Others?
ReSharper's effect on coding interviews
productivity;ide;interview
I was a candidate 2 in an interview very recently. I was given a vanilla install of the IDE on a PC with a non-standard keyboard and unfamiliar testing framework, and I was asked to write a simple Fizz-Buzz app with unit tests. I fluffed it. I must have looked like a complete noob, stumbling around in the dark trying to hack out code. Needless to say, I wasn't offered the position.What I learned is that I rely very heavily on my plugins. They don't just get code typed faster - they actually shape the way I think about code and the way I go about coding. For example, I used to think very carefully about variable names because they could be a pain to change after the fact. Now, in contrast, I just make a half-baked guess about how I'll use the variable, hack out some code, let the variable tell me what it is for, and then hit Refactor->Rename to call it something more appropriate.Does this make me the less capable candidate? In some ways, I think it does. Someone who can write code in Notepad and have it compile and run correctly has certain advantages over someone like me who needs all the IDE goodness he can get. From that point of view, I perfectly understand why any company would choose not to hire a toolhead like me.On the other hand, I'm still a talented and capable Senior Developer. I've learned what works for me, and I practice the sort of laziness that makes me productive, given my own weaknesses and limitations. In short, I'm the kind of programmer that could really benefit a company like the one who turned me away.Interestly, I had another interview a couple of weeks ago. Following my previous experience I made a point of asking about additional tools or budget for buying them. Discovering that there were neither gave me one more reason for turning down to the (rather generous) offer that they made to me.So, to paraphrase Groucho, I would not join any company that would have someone like me for an employee.Not unless they let me use ReSharper, anyway.