Integrating tests into the screening process helps businesses assess technical, practical and problem-solving skills.

In fact, 76% of businesses with over 100 employees integrate some form of test into their recruitment strategies.

‍Studies show that pre-employment tests help recruiters beat bias and home in on the right employees while avoiding making the wrong hire, which can cost some $17,000.

‍Code challenges are ubiquitous in jobs that require coding and programming knowledge.

‍When implemented correctly, they can form a valuable stage of the recruitment pipeline, but they’re far from perfect, and many developers are protesting against them. In addition, 86% of employers agree that tech recruitment is especially difficult, so finding the right balance is crucial.

This guide will look closely at code challenges for interviews and whether recruiters should consider them.

The concept behind code challenges is simple: prospective employees are set a task that tests coding skills appropriate to the job. Then, recruiters will use the results to compare and contrast candidates’ practical skills and problem-solving abilities.

Code challenges for interviews fall into two broad categories:

• Live coding challenges, either in-person or with screen sharing.
• Take-home or homework code challenges, where the candidate submits their challenge at the next interview stage.

Shorter challenges typically test a candidate’s ability to solve a problem without the tools they’re necessarily comfortable with - they’re more focused on fundamental technical skills and problem-solving.

Longer challenges typically allow programmers to use the tech stack and programming language they’re comfortable with - they’re more focused on creativity and pragmatism.

Complex jobs might require both sorts of code challenges, and may require candidates to use specific tech stacks and programming languages. The challenges vary from sector to sector. Interview coding examples include:

• Building an API
• Solving programming tasks using data structures and algorithms
• Building dashboards
• Building user interfaces
• Creating responsive web apps
• Web design tasks
• Data engineering tasks, e.g. extract load transform (ELT)
• Building simple machine learning models, e.g. linear regression models

There are many other possibilities, though. For example, Code Ninja provides a list interview coding examples used by top tech companies like Apple, Google, Oracle and Adobe, etc, such as rearranging binary trees, reversing strings and searching in a sorted and rotated array.

So, what are the benefits and drawbacks of coding challenges?

Coding challenges are ubiquitous, but how do they benefit employers?

‍Coding challenges provide objective results

‍Code challenges for interviews provide recruiters with an unbiased, empirical means to assess candidates.

While soft skills are useful in any job, hard skills are undoubtedly essential in tech jobs that involve coding and programming. Coding challenges test hard skills but also help employers evaluate creativity and problem-solving.

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Makes it easier to understand candidate skills

There are many different specialisms within programming and development.

While someone might advertise programming skills on their resume, it’s tricky for employers to understand exactly what they’re good at. Coding challenges enable employers to test fundamental IT skills, problem-solving skills and niche skills required for the job.

Some tech roles require a precise subset of skills that coding challenges can screen effectively.

Reduced costs

Coding challenges reduce the need for multiple ongoing interviews.

Instead, employers can screen large numbers of candidates and focus on the select few who pass the tests. Recruiters can focus time and effort on the highest-performing candidates.

‍Recruitment software can help employers keep tabs on candidates and their scores.

Coding challenges have received backlash from developers.

Senior developers report being insulted or disrespected by coding challenges that are outdated, irrelevant or way beneath their proven abilities.

An analogy is a heart surgeon with 15 to 20 years of experience on his/her CV - would a hospital then ask them to perform a dummy operation to prove their ability? The stakes are high when dealing with senior talent - employers can’t risk insulting the candidates they need.

Coding challenges take time

Firstly, coding challenges are long-winded, especially in the case of take-home coding challenges that can take hours. Some of these last 8 hours, which is an unrealistic expectation for most.

Employers should consider what candidates are likely to work that long for free.

Adam Carrigan, Co-Founder at MindsDB says,

‍“a lot of fantastic candidates simply will not do a free Coding Challenge. If they do work for free, that can often be correlated with a less experienced or capable candidate”.

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The risk of setting the wrong coding challenge

Coding challenges should be set by experienced developers that know the challenge is appropriate for:

A) The job

B) The skill and experience required for the hire

If the wrong challenge is set, e.g. you ask a machine learning developer to build a WordPress plugin, then you’ll almost certainly deter them from a job. After all, top tech talent is often looking to join tech-literate businesses.

Effective recruitment software allows recruitment tasks to be delegated to relevant teams, enabling businesses to share their coding challenges with developers and IT teams.Also, some poorly chosen coding challenges can accidentally screen out the best candidates.

Odds of success seem low

Candidates might see a job with several hundred applicants that require coding challenges and simply not bother applying.

The candidate that doesn’t apply might be the one you’re looking for.

While big tech firms like Google will likely get away with setting tall orders for their candidates, most businesses can’t afford to.

Developers are fighting back against lengthy unpaid coding challenges.

There are some pretty extreme examples out there, such as multiple rounds of challenges followed by mini internships that involve several days of unpaid work.

Jonatan Frank from NamuCode says: ‍

“You can reject this kind of disrespectful task. You can leave and continue in your current job, explaining why this is wrong”.

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Some devs point out that they have a lively portfolio of projects on GitHub, demonstrating their experience better than any test.

Overall, most devs accept that coding challenges are part of being hired in their industry.

But it’s also important to remember that software development and programming skills are in high demand, and a supply deficiency means they hold the cards.

Smaller businesses should be especially cautious when setting coding challenges, as putting candidates off applying could heavily impact their growth.

When implemented, coding challenges should be well-organised and managed collaboratively. Hiringmaster provides a suite of tools that make coding challenges easier to implement and manage for the benefit of both candidates and the business.

Implementing coding challenges enables businesses to test candidates' technical and practical skills.

First, it’s essential to properly assess someone’s resume and portfolio, as many top developers demonstrate proven experience via their GitHub projects.

The risk of coding challenges is greater when hiring senior developers. This is because it’s necessary to align the test with the individuals you’re looking for, and some developers are simply too experienced for coding challenges.

Google, Samsung, Adobe, Facebook and the other tech giants can get away with screening candidates with intensive challenges, but the same can’t necessarily be said about small businesses.