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I like the coding challenge idea. I have a few "real-world" problems that I could put together that could be interesting to people. The only worry I have is tha

I like the coding challenge idea. I have a few "real-world" problems that I could put together that could be interesting to people. The only worry I have is that I don't want people to feel like they're coding for "free."

vinceguidry 12y ago
You can't please everyone. Some people will look at a sufficiently interesting "Code Kata" type problem as a fun challenge and others will turn up their noses. Some of the former won't be a good fit, and some of the latter will be perfectly good engineers to work with. Your signaling will never be perfect. Just keep filling and vetting the funnel regardless. It's just not worth trying to please everyone all the time.
bricestacey 12y ago
For another opinion, I would never do a "coding challenge" for any company unless I really wanted to work there. A few years ago that list included: Github because they're awesome, and Facebook for the money. I doubt your company would qualify. Also, if you're targeting older employees like someone else mentioned, many won't have time for such tomfoolery.
tomp 12y ago
Well, that's the point - they shouldn't be coding for "free" - it should not be a real-world problem, which is most likely solving a stupid bug in a framework you use, or a simple CRUD/statistics script. Instead, you want a puzzle that is a challenging as it's interesting - e.g. some Code Kata as another commenter suggested. Basically, it should be interesting enough that people who don't want to apply to your job would want to solve it, and after they solve it, you offer them to apply, which they would be likely to do, because you've proven yourself a cool guy/girl.
Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Any programmer who isn't deluded/arrogant enough to believe he or she shouldn't have to answer coding questions understands that...he or she will have to answer coding questions to substantiate claims about ability. Instead, I'd just avoid "real-world" problems that your company has actually worked on unless it's clearly stated as such and you're compensating the candidate for his time. I'd also avoid challenges that are actually "solve this math problem, and express your solution in the form of a program." You see these all over in places like codility. Perhaps it's just because I have extensive education in research and mathematics already, but I consider these things to be "numerical parlor tricks" more than they are a guage of whether a person can reason out a programmatic solution to an actual problem. They almost always seem to put the candidate in the mindset of "I have to solve a math problem" rather than, "I have to write a program." Contrary to what some mistakenly believe, the two aren't the same, and for all but the most research oriented CS work the latter skill can be entirely independent of mathematical reasoning ability.

vinceguidry 12y ago

You can't please everyone. Some people will look at a sufficiently interesting "Code Kata" type problem as a fun challenge and others will turn up their noses. Some of the former won't be a good fit, and some of the latter will be perfectly good engineers to work with. Your signaling will never be perfect. Just keep filling and vetting the funnel regardless. It's just not worth trying to please everyone all the time.

bricestacey 12y ago

For another opinion, I would never do a "coding challenge" for any company unless I really wanted to work there. A few years ago that list included: Github because they're awesome, and Facebook for the money. I doubt your company would qualify. Also, if you're targeting older employees like someone else mentioned, many won't have time for such tomfoolery.

tomp 12y ago

Well, that's the point - they shouldn't be coding for "free" - it should not be a real-world problem, which is most likely solving a stupid bug in a framework you use, or a simple CRUD/statistics script. Instead, you want a puzzle that is a challenging as it's interesting - e.g. some Code Kata as another commenter suggested. Basically, it should be interesting enough that people who don't want to apply to your job would want to solve it, and after they solve it, you offer them to apply, which they would be likely to do, because you've proven yourself a cool guy/girl.

Iftheshoefits 12y ago

Any programmer who isn't deluded/arrogant enough to believe he or she shouldn't have to answer coding questions understands that...he or she will have to answer coding questions to substantiate claims about ability. Instead, I'd just avoid "real-world" problems that your company has actually worked on unless it's clearly stated as such and you're compensating the candidate for his time. I'd also avoid challenges that are actually "solve this math problem, and express your solution in the form of a program." You see these all over in places like codility. Perhaps it's just because I have extensive education in research and mathematics already, but I consider these things to be "numerical parlor tricks" more than they are a guage of whether a person can reason out a programmatic solution to an actual problem. They almost always seem to put the candidate in the mindset of "I have to solve a math problem" rather than, "I have to write a program." Contrary to what some mistakenly believe, the two aren't the same, and for all but the most research oriented CS work the latter skill can be entirely independent of mathematical reasoning ability.