We provide applicants with a small coding exercise (one they do at home) that compels them to find a good, clean and algorithmic approach to a problem, shows ho

We provide applicants with a small coding exercise (one they do at home) that compels them to find a good, clean and algorithmic approach to a problem, shows how they organize and understand abstract concepts, and whether or not they consider testing when writing code. The example is a checkout register at a store. They submit their example, and we review it, make notes, and when they come in, we go over it and talk about it. What we look for is the code itself and also how they explain their decisions along the way. We find that this really paints a very vivid picture of the candidate, far more than white boarding exercises, stand behind them coding exercises or trivial bs questions.