Coding Assesment Tests Alternatives?

1 points by externalreality 7y ago ↗ HN

I've taken many coding assessment tests in the past; I've designed a few; and now I'm deciding if I should issue code tests to my own candidates. Here are the concerns I have with code tests.

1) Code tests are generally poorly designed - unless a great deal of time is put into developing them and with a clear idea of what the test is trying to ascertain.

2) Code tests are subjective - there are so many programming philosophy's and opinions out there that I don't think any two graders would agree on the quality of any piece of code unless they agree on exactly what the code test is designed to ascertain. In my experience, code test graders are just told to "give an opinion" on the code.

3) There doesn't seem to exist much research showing that code tests result in better employees. Please post them if you are familiar with some work I would like to give them a read.

4) It is easy to cheat on code tests - online code test taking services or having a buddy that already took the test are real threats to test subversion.

5) The question "How many good candidates am I also eliminating with my test?" is a legit question.

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glvn 7y ago ↗

My team uses a coding test with a bit of a twist. We provide the candidate with a simple application such as an address book or Todo list. We then ask them to either implement a feature or fix a bug that we point out.

The example uses current industry standards and practices and is built in a language that the candidate is applying for. Complexity varies depending on candidate, if it's a junior role we ask they implement a simple feature or fix a simple bug, more senior devs may be asked to implement something more complex or fix a harder bug.

We usually have one of our engineer that is interviewing them pair with them for about an hour on the issue during which time they can use all tools at their disposal.

Our process puts the candidate in a place where they can really show their skill, a real-world (or as close as we could get) problem with all the tools they would normally have. Additionally having just the one engineer pair with them for an hour or so usually gives us pretty good feedback as to not just coding skill but also as a general fit on our team.

It takes a bit more time in preparation and the interview but it's been a good ROI for us.