A coding interview assesses the candidate’s skills. It helps to assess whether they are competent and compatible enough to enter the field. On the other hand, the interviewer must be equally skilled in asking the correct questions.
According to research, 76% of companies use live coding sessions to evaluate candidates’ problem-solving skills and coding proficiency. Companies are becoming more and more technology-focused.
As a result, many non-technical recruiters are trying to find engineering talent without themselves having a strong background in technology. This in itself is a very sticky situation to be stuck in when you combine it with the expensive fallout from a poor hiring decision.
This article will teach you how to create a standout coding interview and assess programming abilities in order to hire the most qualified developer for the position and lower the recruiting margin.
Importance Of Conducting A Coding Interview
Like any other interview procedure, coding interviews also carry immense importance. How? Companies have started using the latest technologies to their benefit and are implementing them in their software and mobile applications.
To ensure they work without causing a disturbance in the workflow. Companies find it crucial to hire a developer to look after technical faults and fix issues on the spot.
Therefore, it rests with recruiters to conduct coding interviews to hire the best one. The test serves its purpose by evaluating a developer’s skills.
👉 Read More: Big Tech Hiring Practices: How FAANG Hires Engineers
Assessing The Candidate
Once the company opens the position of a coder, a long queue of aspiring candidates does line up. But how many are familiar? Do they seriously know the art of coding or came randomly to try their luck?
The recruiter in charge very easily arranges the test on a collaborative editor or a whiteboard and gives the candidate a deadline to test whether they can complete the task within the duration or not. The results then facilitate the decision to hire the person accordingly.
Cost-Effective Hiring
In the current times, multiple varieties of online technologies and software are available at a click away. Companies need not worry about the candidate’s location as the cyber tools can assist the employers in remotely testing the individual.
Filters Candidates In Real Time
The company’s coder vacancy undoubtedly attracts thousands of coders therefore, online skill assessments test candidates irrespective of the number in real-time. Easily and automatically filter a large pool of competent individuals that can be passed on to go to the next level.
👉 Read More: 10 Effective Ways to Filter Unqualified Candidates
Testing Proves The Candidate Has The Skill
Often, candidates brag about their coding skills, but when they are tested, the results tell how honest they were while talking about coding. The live testing shows that the candidate knows how to solve technical problems for real.
It shows if they hold the necessary skills to convert them into code. When a company is hiring a person, they should be capable enough to convert a problematic statement into modular blocks and algorithms.
How To Conduct A Coding Interview?
A coding interview is a critical component of the hiring process for technical roles. Its primary purpose is to evaluate a candidate’s problem-solving abilities, coding skills, and understanding of algorithms and data structures.
During these interviews, candidates are typically presented with coding problems or challenges that they must solve within a specified timeframe. The process helps assess not only their technical proficiency but also their approach to problem-solving, communication skills, and ability to work under pressure.
For example, a coding interview might involve solving algorithmic problems, debugging code, or designing a system. The focus is on assessing how candidates approach and solve problems, rather than just the final answer. Now let's explore how to conduct a coding interview the right way:
Define the Role and Required Skills
Before conducting a coding interview, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the role you’re hiring for and the skills required. This step ensures that the interview process is aligned with the job's actual requirements and helps in crafting relevant questions.
1. Understand the Job Requirements
Analyze the job description and identify the technical skills, experience level, and core competencies required for the role. This includes programming languages, familiarity with specific tools or technologies, and any specialized knowledge.
Consult with the hiring manager or team leads to gather insights on what skills are most important for the role.
2. Define Key Competencies
Break down the skills and qualities needed for the role into specific competencies. These might include problem-solving abilities, coding proficiency, and knowledge of algorithms.
Create a list of these competencies to guide the development of interview questions and evaluation criteria. During a coding interview, several key skills are evaluated to determine if a candidate is a good fit for the role:
- Problem-Solving Skills: The ability to understand and break down complex problems into manageable parts. This includes analyzing requirements, devising a plan, and implementing a solution effectively.
- Coding Proficiency: Competence in writing clean, efficient, and correct code. This encompasses knowledge of programming languages, syntax, and best practices.
- Algorithmic Thinking: Understanding and applying algorithms and data structures to solve problems. This includes knowing how to select and implement the most appropriate algorithms for different scenarios.
- Optimization: The ability to improve the efficiency of a solution, focusing on time complexity and space complexity to ensure optimal performance.
- Debugging Skills: The capability to identify and fix issues in code, including understanding error messages and systematically troubleshooting problems.
- Communication Skills: The ability to explain thought processes clearly, ask clarifying questions, and articulate solutions effectively. This is crucial for ensuring that both the interviewer and candidate are aligned.
Understanding these basics will help you create a structured and effective coding interview process. With this foundation, you can move on to preparing for the interview, crafting questions, and conducting the interview itself.
👉 Read More: How to Identify Hiring Needs in Your Company?
Creating a Structured Interview Plan
A well-structured interview plan helps ensure consistency and fairness in the evaluation process. It also provides a clear roadmap for both the interviewer and the candidate.
1. Outline the Interview Stages
Determine the different stages of the interview process, such as initial screening, technical assessments, and final interviews. Each stage should have a specific focus.
Develop a timeline for each stage and outline the goals for each part of the interview. Coding interviews can vary significantly depending on the company and the role. Here are the most common types:
Phone Screens
These are preliminary interviews conducted over the phone or via video conferencing tools. They usually involve discussing a candidate’s resume, asking a few technical questions, and sometimes solving a simple coding problem. Purpose of phone screening is to filter candidates before scheduling more in-depth technical interviews.
Technical Assessments
These are usually timed coding challenges completed on online platforms. Candidates are given a problem to solve in a set amount of time and submit their solution. Purpose of conducting technical assessments is to assess coding skills and problem-solving abilities in a controlled environment.
Onsite Interviews
These involve multiple rounds of interviews, often including live coding sessions, system design problems, and behavioral questions. Candidates may also meet with different team members and work on real-world problems. Purpose is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of a candidate’s technical skills, problem-solving approach, and cultural fit within the team.
2. Design Interview Questions
Based on the competencies defined earlier, create a set of questions that test a range of skills, from basic coding tasks to complex problem-solving scenarios.
Ensure that questions vary in difficulty and cover different aspects of coding and problem-solving. Include questions that test both theoretical knowledge and practical application.
When designing coding interview questions, it's essential to cover various types to assess different aspects of a candidate's skills. Here are the main types of coding questions to consider:
- Algorithmic Challenges: These questions test a candidate's ability to solve problems using algorithms and data structures. They often involve tasks such as sorting, searching, and working with arrays or strings.
- Data Structures: Questions focused on data structures assess the candidate’s understanding and application of structures like linked lists, trees, stacks, queues, and hash tables.
- System Design: System design questions evaluate a candidate's ability to design scalable and efficient systems. These questions typically involve creating architectures for web services, databases, or distributed systems.
- Debugging and Code Review: These questions involve analyzing and fixing bugs in existing code or reviewing code for improvements. They test a candidate’s debugging skills and attention to detail.
Check out how you can create personalized assessment within minutes using WeCP AI:
3. Ensuring Questions Are Fair
Fairness in coding questions ensures that all candidates are evaluated on a level playing field and that the interview process is objective.
- Balance Difficulty: Include questions of varying difficulty to assess different levels of skill. Avoid questions that are too easy or too difficult for the given role. Review and test questions to ensure they are appropriately challenging and relevant to the role.
- Test Core Competencies: Ensure that questions assess the core competencies required for the role. For example, focus on problem-solving and coding skills for a software developer position. Align questions with the skills and knowledge outlined in the job description.
- Provide Clear Instructions: Give candidates clear instructions on how to approach and solve the problem. Specify whether they are expected to write code from scratch, optimize existing code, or both. Include any relevant information about coding standards or constraints.
Crafting effective coding questions is crucial for evaluating candidates accurately and fairly. By focusing on clarity, relevance, and fairness, you can ensure that your questions provide meaningful insights into a candidate’s abilities and potential fit for the role.
👉 Read More: Examples of Unfair Hiring Practices and How to Avoid Them?
4. Create Evaluation Criteria
Develop a rubric or set of criteria for evaluating candidates' responses. This should include factors such as correctness, efficiency, clarity of explanation, and overall approach.
Share these criteria with all interviewers to ensure consistent and objective assessments.
Choosing the Right Tools
Selecting the right tools is crucial for conducting an efficient and effective coding interview process. WeCP offers a comprehensive platform designed to optimize every stage of the coding interview. Here’s how WeCP enhances the process with its wide array of features:
1. Real-Time Code Execution
Candidates can write, run, and debug code live during the interview. This allows you to observe their problem-solving process and coding skills in action, providing insights into their approach and efficiency.
2. Automated Testing
WeCP’s platform includes built-in test cases that automatically validate the correctness and efficiency of the candidate’s solutions. This ensures an objective evaluation by providing instant feedback on whether the candidate’s code meets the problem requirements and handles various edge cases effectively.
3. Customizable Question Types
Create and manage a wide range of coding problems tailored to different levels of expertise and job requirements. WeCP supports algorithmic challenges, data structure problems, and system design scenarios, allowing you to align questions with specific job roles.
4. Integration with Existing Systems
Seamlessly integrate WeCP with your existing hiring systems and workflows. This capability streamlines the interview process by facilitating easy scheduling, candidate tracking, and management of interview data.
5. Extensive Test Library
Access WeCP’s extensive library of pre-built coding problems and assessment that supports 2000+ skills in 12 different question types, and over 200k+ expert-vetted low-exposed questions. This means that our questions are unique and you don’t face the risk of candidates merely memorising or copying code.
This resource provides a wide variety of questions that can be used to evaluate different skill levels and technical competencies, saving time and effort in creating new tests.
6. Uses Virtual Whiteboard and Pair Programming
The programming software uses a virtual whiteboard to assign problems to the candidates, who have to develop a quick solution through the video interview. The advantage here is that you can see the candidate's timing for the testing increasing the user’s trust too. This innovative approach to technical interviewing will give you a true sample of the work environment and help you make more informed hiring decisions.
7. Built-in Real-Time Code Environment
WeCP's Live Coding Interview helps you assess and watch the code as it is being written. A real-code environment will make the candidates more comfortable, and hiring managers will be able to view on-the-job coding skills. This way, you’ll also be able to gauge the logic behind each code and won't have to focus much on syntax.
8. Low Internet Speed Does Not Hinder In Its Performance
How much software runs perfectly fine when the internet begins to lag? With WeCP, even low internet speed is not an issue. Usually, such software is heavy on the internet and makes the interview more of a hassle.
9. Proctoring and Security
WeCP offers robust proctoring features to ensure the integrity of the assessment process. Monitor candidates remotely, detect potential cheating, and maintain a secure environment for coding challenges. Features include activity monitoring, screen recording, and browser lockdown.
10. Detailed Analytics and Reporting
Utilize WeCP’s analytics and reporting features to gain insights into candidate performance. Access comprehensive reports on coding efficiency, problem-solving approaches, and overall assessment results to make informed hiring decisions.
Leverage WeCP’s extensive features to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your coding assessments. From real-time coding and automated testing to proctoring, whiteboarding, and detailed analytics, WeCP ensures a thorough and fair evaluation process, ultimately leading to better hiring decisions.
Conclusion
Compile your notes from your online interviews, along with a comprehensive candidate report that shows you live code performance, productivity graphs, strengths and weaknesses along with top skills of the candidate to pick your best fit.
WeCP as your coding interview platform provides a detailed list of metrics – like role-catered and business-aligned tasks and questions, time spent on tasks, the number of corrections or changes made, the accuracy of their solutions, and so, which will help in-house engineers better gauge skill and fit.
Contact us for more information or schedule a demo with us.
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