5 Tips for Learning to Excel in Coding Challenges

The job market for software development is as competitive as it is rewarding. However, there are many barriers to entry for those who want to break into software development. Besides going through training and certifications for required technical skills, coding challenges during technical interviews also make entry into the software development job market difficult for many hopefuls.

Coding challenges are a crucial part of software development recruitment, especially for positions that require code writing. When applying for vacancies that require software writing, it is only natural for interviewers to make you write software, hence the widespread use of online coding challenges, which help recruiters narrow down their pool of candidates to absolutely qualified and skilled talents. When you are up for a programming assessment test, here are tips to help you excel:

1.      Read the instructions carefully. A typical coding challenge comes with written instructions. Take your time to read through what is being asked of you to make sure that you understand what the challenge entails. It would be a shame and a huge waste of an opportunity to write a flawless code that solves the wrong challenge or misses out on a key requirement only because you failed to read the instructions through.

2.      Plan out your actions. Sketch a plan before jumping in with both feet to tackle a coding challenge. The best way to fail at online coding challenges is to make stuff up as you go. If you plan out your coding strategy, it will be easier to create a code that works and not one that will back you into a corner or a dead end.

3.      Make a list of technical decisions you will likely have to make. This will help you look at the development from a wider, big-picture perspective, hence enabling you to make critical coding decisions faster.

4.      Opt for test-driven development. Your unit testing skills can very well make or break your chances at progressing into higher levels of the recruiting process. While failure to write test may not necessarily disqualify you from the running toward a particular position, including testing in your coding strategy is going to be a huge advantage as reviewers favor a holistic approach to coding.

5.      Make your code readable. Remember that your solution is going to be read and assessed by a software developer. It is for this reason that you should make your code legible and easy to follow

Most coding challenges include stages including parsing and processing input and presenting output—critical code writing stages that you should prepare for if you want to ace a coding challenge.

Select Best Employees for Your Company with Candidate Assessment Tools

Discerning employers do not just choose candidates based on their resumes. They use employee assessment tools that can help them determine a candidate’s capability to contribute to the organization’s long-term success. The right candidate assessment tools will help you pick the best individuals who can be committed, diligent members of your team. They can also assess the work ethic, attitudes, and behaviors of the candidate to determine how well they can work efficiently by themselves and in a team. Here are some tips to help you pick the best employees using the right recruiting tools:

• Make sure it is specific to your industry – Some employee assessment tools are generalized, claiming that they are flexible and can be used in any industry. However, certain tasks, like programming, requires specific expertise and a unique form of assessment. In that case, you may need to find a specially developed platform to assess the knowledge, skills, efficiency, and creativity programmers.
  
  
• Find out what it can do - Good candidate assessment tools are designed for recruiters looking for talented programmers. The assessment is delivered like a game, making it a fun and entertaining process to candidates. The test is language independent and can be finished in under an hour. Rest assured, recruiters will be provided with a qualitative assessment on every candidate who can prove their skills and knowledge as programmers.

• Pick a solution that supports technical recruiting – There are many challenges to technical recruiting, as it requires you to find the best employees, evaluate their abilities, and make sure that they will accept your job offer when you find that they are worthy of a position. Moreover, you need to make sure that they will stay with you. Effective recruiting tools can help streamline the technical recruiting process, so you can be more effective and efficient in finding the best candidates.

Make sure it attracts the best talent – Some developers of employee assessment tools run technical competitions regularly, so you can find the best candidates, regardless of them being on the job market or not. Participants could be engineers who want to challenge their abilities, and you could engage them effectively when you see their performance.

Outstanding Benefits of Candidate Assessment Tools

The hiring process offers an opportunity for employers to get to know their potential employees well by gathering as much critical and relevant information on them as possible. However, traditional getting-to-know-you methods for candidates, such as interviews and resumes are often insufficient and do not yield the best insight that an employer might require in order to ensure a candidate’s suitability for the job at hand. This is exactly why candidate assessment tools were invented and developed. Candidate assessment during the hiring process is typically done using well-developed and validated tests that ensure objectivity and reliability in gathering job-critical information on candidates. These pre-employment tests inject objectivity into the recruitment and hiring process by making a way to gather concrete results that are standardized and puts candidates on a level field. What these tests reveal can help employers more informed and defensible hiring decisions.

All too many companies waste a great deal of time, energy, and resources by making hiring mistakes. It is through thorough candidate assessment and pre-employment tests that you can improve your hiring process and avoid these costly screw-ups. Getting quality candidates from the get go is key to hiring quality employees that perform and avoiding bad hires. Candidate assessment tools and tests will effectively reduce the amount of time you waste reading thousands of resumes as well as conducting interviews as you get to sift through applicants and pare them down to the best candidates that will actually provide you what you need. These tests offer objective and reliable data that help employers predict a candidate’s job performance and at the same time increase the quality of your workforce and reduce bad hires. All in all, incorporating these kinds of assessments into your hiring process will lead to significant bottom line improvements starting with enhanced workforce productivity and reduced turnover rates.