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How to make a coding challenge to hire a new engineer? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by hi65435@discuss.tchncs.de to c/experienced_devs@programming.dev

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We're a very small team with little experience in hiring but got approval for a new engineer. Basically HR will look for people through the usual channels and I think we have a reasonably good job description. Unfortunately the coding challenge (a 30h+ take home) is atrociously difficult and doesn't really reflect what we do. On the other hand I think the false positive rate would be low. FWIW it's a Linux application and it might be difficult to only count on experience from the CV.

Any ideas how to build a good challenge from scratch and what time constraints are reasonable?

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[–] potoo22@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago

I am not gonna do a 30hr challenge. I barely have 30 hrs to spare in a month and I'm not gonna spend it for a chance of getting a position. 4 hours max, and not even something too difficult. As another commenter suggested, use it as something to discuss in an interview to get an idea of how they think and make decisions.