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3 coding test issues you should know when you’re hiring:
👉1. If you dish out homework before talking to the candidate, good chance they’ll bail.
For software engineers, it’s a volume game. When you have dozens of jobs spammed your way each week, you can’t evaluate everything.
Why should anyone take your test if you don’t give them a reason first?
Virtually every company we talk to reports massive candidate dropouts when attempting this. (In the 50% or more ballpark.)
It just won’t work.
👉2. Institutional bias: the classic “tabs vs spaces” and other individual preferences.
If you know, you know. If you don’t, watch Silicon Valley S3 Ep6.
When orgs create their own assessments, they’ll reflect the preferences of the people creating them. It’s unavoidable.
But it doesn’t mean those candidates can’t get the job done.
👉3. What test are you even giving?
Here’s a (not so) fun one: “We’re open to any language. But we only test in Python.”
Tell me you're not really open to every language without telling me you're not really open to any language...
Hiring tech is hard enough. Don’t make it harder.
Full episode of The 10 Minute Talent Rant, ep 38 Candidates Don’t Like Bullsh*t Homework, here.
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3 coding test issues to know when you’re hiring