You have sourced and narrowed down your pool of qualified candidates. Now what?
You tested problem solving and proficiency in multiple languages during the screening process. You had the candidates submit code, additional recommended questions, and a virtual whiteboard in the interview.
However, you require a more in-depth evaluation of this particular role. You need to assess the candidates' ability to apply the languages and host of frameworks developed on top of them to solve real-world challenges. You also need to understand their ability to navigate a complete application environment, to translate log messages, and interchangeably use the command-line, IDE, and browser to interact with the environment.
You need HackerRank Projects.
Standard coding challenges are effective at assessing a single language, such as Javascript, Python, CSS, or SQL. However, most applications are developed using multiple languages or frameworks such as React, Angular, Django, and Bootstrap.
So while a standard coding challenge may be an effective screening filter, it does not truly test the ability to use the frameworks or languages together. Moreover, the coding challenge and a conventional IDE don’t expose the individual's ability to set up and explore an application environment or troubleshoot its issues.
HackerRank Projects provide both the interviewer and candidate access to a full-stack environment that is fully customizable and built to assess roles such as:
- Front-End, Back-End, or Full-Stack Developers
- Data Scientist
- DevOps Engineer
- QA Automation Engineer
How HackerRank Projects work
Each Project is deployed on a Docker container or EC2 image that includes the entire application environment, the interview question, and any scripts to configure the scenario. HackerRank provides a vast library of predefined environments and relevant questions for each role.
Each environment supports customization ranging from slight modifications to one of HackerRank’s 200+ projects-based questions to a full-fledged custom container and question code. Each customization can be applied directly inside the HackerRank editor, manually uploaded, or automatically pulled from Git.
Projects questions are added to an interview just like any standard coding or whiteboard question.
Each project-based question is displayed as a tab in the IDE. Selecting that tab reveals a unique environment with a file explorer, editor, and message pane.
Each environment also includes terminal access, so the candidate can navigate the file system and run commands from within a shell.
Web browsers are also readily available so that the interviewer can assess candidate skills troubleshooting user interface and real-world application challenges.
The interviewer can simultaneously view everything that the candidate does and privately score the candidate based on the skills defined for the role.
Through the use of Projects during an interview, companies can truly identify the candidate that has the best skills for even their most technical hires.
Make your interviews more effective with Projects
Go beyond a standard coding question. With Projects, you can create real-world scenarios with access to:
- Full-stack application environments
- A vast library of 200+ projects-based questions
- Customize every aspect of the application and interview questions
Shikhar Jaiswal is a developer turned Product Manager at HackerRank. He and his team leverage their rich background in software engineering to create great developer experiences within the HackerRank platform.
