HOW TO TESTDEVELOPERS’SKI

LLS
BEFOREHI RI
NG
GUI
DE&CHEATSHEET

1
 WHATWEDO ANDWHYWEDO I
T

Worki
ngoutwhetherdevel
oper
shavet
her
ightt
echni
cals
kil
ls(
ornot
)isoneofHR’
s
bi
ggestc
hal
lenges
.

AtCodi
nGame,we’r
eonamissi
ontohelpcompaniesallovertheworl
ds tr
eamli
nethei
rtechrecruit
mentproces
s.
We’r
echangi
ngthewaycompani
essour
ce,sc
reen,andr etai
ntechtal
entwithourpowerf
ul,al
l-
in-onet
echhir
ing
pl
atf
orm:Codi
nGameforWork.We’
repavi
ngthewayf orskil
l-
basedhiri
ng.

WHATTO EXPECTFROM THI

SGUI
DE

We’veputtoget
herthi
sguidetohelpyouout.Herearefivet
ried-
and-
tes
t edwaystochec
koutadevel
oper’
sski
ll
s,
removetheguessworkandavoidmis-hi
res
.We’veevengoneandputac heatsheett
oget
herf
oryou-jus
tincaseyou
wanttokeepac hec
kli
sthandy(headtopage19).

2
 1 DI
GINTO THEI
RPROGRAMMERPORTFOLI
O..
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..4
4 ORGANI
ZEALI
VECODI
NGI
NTERVI
EW .
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..13

2 TAKEALOOKATTHEI
RGI
THUBACCOUNT.
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.7
5 I
NVITETHEM TO TAKEAN ONLI
PROGRAMMINGTEST
NE.
..
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..
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..
..
..16

3 ASKABOUTTHEI
RUSEOFSTACKOVERFLOW .
..
..
.10
6 CHEATSHEET.
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.19

3
 1

DI
GINTO THEI
RPROGRAMMERPORTFOLI
O

4
 Programmerportfol
ioscomeinmanys hapesandsiz
es,r
angi
ngf
rom
si
nglewebpages
,forthos
eseek
ingthei
rfir s
tjuni
orr
ole,t
ocompl
exsof
twar
e
proj
ects
,fors
eni
orandmanageri
alappl
icants.

Port
foli
osareusef
ul i
ntherec
rui
tmentproc
essastheyshow candi
dat
es’
developmentlevel,thei
rcar
eergoals
,theski
ll
sthey’
refocusedon
acquiri
ng,etc
.

5
 Lookoutf orhow ac andi
dat edesc
r i
besthecontextofeachprojecti
nhis
orherpor tf
oli
o:howdi dtheyint
egrat
ewithot
herlibr
ari
esortool
s?Didthey
coll
aborat
ewithotherdevelopers
?Hav et
heyworkedonlotsofunfinis
hed
projec
ts?

Goodc ommunicat
ions
kil
lswil
lalwayspayoffinadev el
operr
oleanda
port
fol
i
oisals
oagoodwaytoval
idateacandi
dat
e’sabi
l
ityt
oexpl
ainand
pres
entthi
ngs.

Goi
ngov eracandi
dat
e’sport
foli
o,di
ggi
ngintosomeproj
ect
s,canser
veasa
basi
sfordial
ogueandhel pyou( oryourtechteam)cons
tructbes
poke
questi
onstouseduri
ngt hehir
ingproces
s.

6
 2

TAKEALOOKATTHEI
RGI
THUBACCOUNT

7
 Git
Hubi sani nvaluableres ourc
ewhenhi ri
ngdev el
opers
. Gi
tHub
serv
esasanonl ines howr oom wheredevelopersworkonopen
sourceprojectsandc ont
r i
butetoothers’i
nit
iat
ives
.For
developer
s, aqual it
yGi tHubr epositor
yispr oofthattheycan
writereadabl eandmai ntainabl
ec odethatotherpeoplecan
easi
lyunder st
andand/ orjumpi nt
o.

Headt oGit
Hubt oseesampl
esofadev eloper’
swork(
mobil
e
apps,games,sc
r i
pts
,pl
ugi
ns,et
c.)andgetaf eelf
orhow t
hey
voluntar
il
yc ol
laborat
ewithpeer si
nc oll
ecti
veproj
ect
s.

8
 Asar
ecr
uit
er,bef
orediv
ingi
ntothi
sc ode(
orask
ingyourt
echteam t
odos
o),
youcans t
artbycheckingsimpl
emet r
icssuchas:

Thenumberoff
oll
ower
s(as
ignofr
eput
ati
on) Thenumberofr epos
itor
iesyourc andidatehas(
pr oj
ects
they
’r
eauthori
ngandwhatt hey ’
reforkingfr
om others)
togetaf
eelforthetypeofprojectsthey ’
rei
nvol
vedin
Thedat ethec andi
datej
oinedGi
tHub( aus
eful“mos
t
recentlyj
oined”filt
erexi
stsi
nthesort
ingopti
onsinthe
topright-
handc orner
)asanindi
cati
onoftheir Thei
rpubli
cact
ivi
tys
hownt
hroughthenumberof
experiencelevel cont
ri
buti
onsmadet ot
hes
ite(
pull
reques
ts,
commit
s,
i
ssuesopened)
Rel
evantk
eywor
dsf
orl
anguagesandt
echnol
ogi
es

9
 3

ASKABOUTTHEI
RUSEOFSTACKOVERFLOW

10
 St
ackOverflowi
s,i
nitssi
mples
tfor
m,aquest
ionand
answersi
teonallthi
ngscomputerpr
ogramming.

Devel
opersc anaskandanswerquesti
onsonanythingtodo
wit
hpr ogr
ammi ngandac t
ivemembersrec
eivepointsand
badgesforthei
rresponsesorcont
ri
buti
ons.Thesi
teholdsa
wealt
hofk nowledgeandanydevel
operwil
lbeusingitdai
ly.

11
 I
tisper
fec ormeas
tf ur
ingacandidate’
sknowledgelevelandinvol
vement
i
nt hedevel
opmentcommuni t
y.Youcanquic
klycheckoutdev
elopers
’
r
eputat
iononStac
kOverflowaswellast
hei
rtopanswers.

Reputat
ionrateisal
lthemor eobjec
tivethanithasbeengrantedbypeer
s.
Userswithhighreputati
onsonStackOv erflowaredevel
operswhoa)are
regul
arl
yacti
v eonthes i
teb)askpert
inentquesti
onsc)provi
dehelpf
ul
answersthankstotheirexper
ti
se.

12
 4

ORGANI
ZEALI
VECODI
NGI
NTERVI
EW

13
 Bei
ngabl ot
et hink,c
odeandc ommuni cat
ewhi lei
nthepr
esenc
eofan
i
ntervi
ewercanbes t
res
sfulwi
thoutanyprac
tic
e.

Howev er,l
iveprogrammingtestsareatrulyvaluablesourceof
i
nf or
mat i
on.Theyall
owrecr
uit
erstoobser
veac andidat
e’sl
ogic
,thei
rabi
li
ty
toexplainwhatthey’
redoi
ng,howtheythi
nk,andtheirabi
li
tyt
oc odeunder
pressure.

Withtoolsli
keCodinGame’sremoteintervi
ew module,youcancarr
yout
codi
nginterviewsvi
ascreenshari
ng.Theapplic
anti
sgivenabri
efandis
t
henobs erv
edasheors hecomplet
esthetask.

14
 Int
erviewersmaybei nter
estedi ns eei
ngwhatkindof
questi
onst heintervi
eweewi llasktounderstandtheprobl
em
befor
et heyrushi
ntor es
olv
ingit.Theymayalsoappreci
ate
bei
ngt oldi
fthecandidat
eencount ersdifficul
ti
esatanypoint
.

Attheendoftheday,t
heaim oft hi
sexer ci
seisnotto
produce(nortoeval
uate)aper fectl
yconstruct
ed,perf
ect
ly
neatpieceofcode.I
ndeed,l
ivecodingcomesdownt oall
owi
ng
bothpart
iestogai
nunderst
andingofeac hotheri
nadynamic
,
const
ruct
iveandconv
ersat
ionalsett
ing.

15
 5

I
NVI
TETHEM TO TAKEAN ONLI
NEPROGRAMMI
NGTEST

16
 Codingtestsar
eoneoft
hemos
teffic
ientwayst
osc
reendevel
oper
s
beforehir
ing.

Theypr ovideaprov
enmodel f
orident
if
yi
ngandhi ringprofici
entdeveloper
s.
Candi datescodetheirwayt hroughreal,pract
icalproblems(suchas
findingabugi nadef ec
tiv
epieceofcodeorpr operl
ys y
nchroniz
inga
mul t
i-
threadedappli
cati
on),
enabli
ngrecruit
erstomeas urethei
rcodingski
ll
s
objecti
velyandefficientl
y.

Techrecrui
ters
,HRmanager sorCTOsc ansetuppr ogr
ammi ngtest
s
usi
ngplatformslikeCodinGameAs ses
s ment,
c hoosi
ngtotestappl
ic
antsi
n
onespeci
ficprogrammi ngl
anguageorovermult
ipletec
hnologi
es(J
ava,
Angul
ar,
Py t
hon,etc.
).

17
 Candi
dates’c
odei
sautomati
cal
l
yanal
yzedandrecr
uitersarepr
ovidedwith
perf
ormanc emetr
icsrangi
ngf
rom l
anguagemas
terytocodedesi
gn,l
i
sibi
l
ity
orsol
idi
ty.

Aswellasoptimi z
ingthehiri
ngpr ocess
,thesetest
sals
opr ovi
def oran
i
mpr ovedcandidat eexperi
ence(compar edtothenon-techni
caldisc
ussi
ons
thatt
ooof t
ent akeplaceduringafir sti
nterv
iew)Pr
. ogrammi ngt estsar
ea
wayf orrecrui
t erstos how developersthattheyaret ech-
fri
endly.

Codingchal
lengessaverecr
uiter
sagr eatdealoft
imewhil
es ec
uri
ngt hei
rhires
onthetechnicals
i Onl
de. i
net echni
calprogrammi ngtest
sus ef
ull
yr eplac
e
paperorwhi teboardtests,
givi
ngdev el
opersachancetodemons t
ratethei
r
ski
l
ls.

18
 TESTI
NGDEVELOPERS’SKI
LLSBEFOREHI
RING
CHEATSHEET
Keepi
thandy
!Nextt
imeyou’
reummingandahhingov
eratec
hcandi
dat
e,ref
erbacktot
hischeats
heet
.
Getacl
earpi
ctur
eofadev
eloper
’st
echnic
als
kil
l
sanddec
idei
fthey’
rer
ightf
ort
hejob.

19
 1 Digintotheirprogrammerportfolio 4 Organizealivecodinginterview
Takealookatacandi
date’
spastproj
ect
s(orasky
our Setupanonl i
ner emotecodingint
ervi
ewandev al
uat
e
tec
hteam to)
.Thi
scanhelpyouevaluat
ethei
rski
l
lset ac andi
dat
e’sthoughtprocess,
faci
l
ityt
oex pl
ainwhat
andservesasabasi
sfordi
alogue. they’
redoi
ngandabi li
tytothi
nkont hespot.

2 TakealookattheirGitHubaccount 5 Invitethem totakeanonlinecodingtest

Havealookatacandi
dat
e’sGi
tHubaccount
.Getan I
nv i
teacandidat
et otak
eanonl i
netec
hnical
tes
twit
ha
i
deaforwhotheyareandwhattheyenj
oyworki
ng(or thi
rd-par
tytools
uc hasCodinGameAs s
essment.
codi
ng!
)on. Vali
datethei
rtechnic
alski
l
ls-notec
hk nowhow
requir
ed!

3 AskabouttheiruseofStackOverflow
Headt oadevel
oper’
sStackOverflowprofileandsee,
at
aglance,
ift
heyas kr
elev
antcodi
ngques t
ionsand
contri
but
eintel
l
igent
,helpf
ulans
wers.

20
 ?

GETI
N TOUCH

c
ont
act
@codi
ngame.
com @c
odi
ngame4wor
k

+33954398549 l
inkedi
n.c
om/
company/
codi
ngame

f
acebook.
com/
codi
ngamef
orwor
k

21