Test Cases for CodeInterviews
under review
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Jared Casner
I'd love to be able to configure a Code Interview so that it functions like a live version of a Screening Test. The idea would be to load a snippet of code to setup the problem that is visible to the candidate, but also setup a series of test cases that only the interviewer can see. An easy MVP would just be to have a snippet that is only visible to the interviewer also to make sure that specific edge cases are covered.
Munir Usman
under review
We are planning to add test cases (using STDIN) along with snippets in CodeInterview.
Munir Usman
We do have STDIN input box that can be used for test cases. I am curious why is it important to hide test cases from candidates in a live interview?
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Julien Barbay
Munir Usman:
Hi. Thanks to answer this request.
In the case of
web
recruitement _here_, we're not sending question per question about javascript algorithm or such. It doesn't make sense to us to ask a simple quizz for blank web browser questions when the test happens in the web browser.Our recruitment process is giving each candidate a 45mn assignment about creating html, css, and javascript based on a set of rules, and insist that they code it _their_ way and improve it as much as they can during the time, as long as it works regarding of the given rules. This is because we want to encourage optimization and unexpected traits of creativity in problem solving rather than ask for the expected answer.
Those rules we set are easy ; they are questioning on browser runtime behavior, asynchronous, basic security points etc... Of course, we could separate all those points in separate questions and input them in your tool, but we would loose the part where creativity of the candidate is challenged, which is a huge part of frontend developer dna in our company.
Because we really want to keep the creativity part, we do manual review of the code every single time which can be tedious because even candidates who dont respect those basic rules are processed. If we had test capability, we could write pupeteer based testing suite to filter out those candidates.
Munir Usman
Julien Barbay: Thanks Julien. We are building multi-file support for web/front-end interviews. You can also add testing frameworks like Mocha or Jest. I will private share the URL for early access with you.
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Julien Barbay
Munir Usman: that would be very interesting ! thank you very much
Munir Usman
Julien Barbay: Hi Julien - you can have an early access here: https://nextgen.codeinterview.io
Looking forward to your feedback :)
Munir Usman
Merged in a post:
Test cases for Interviews
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Bashar Abied
I think I have only one request (which I think you already have in mind for the next build J ) …
The questions added to the “interview” to have an automated tested cases similar to the online exam.
Best Regards
Munir Usman
Merged in a post:
Test cases for code interview
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Julien Barbay
I'm adding my stone to this popular request. I'd like to be able to run tests cases as well.
I think that for a first step, you should rather propose an API which posts code content to a remote server (chosen by us, your clients) and receive back a simple json such as { success: true/false, score: 10 }
That would be enough for most since we could connect this to any CI service available on the market, also provides less infra on your side, more control on the tests on ours, and no need to support all the edgy situations you could run into if you were to host the testing yourself.
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Josh Kuhn
This is a good idea, sometimes it's hard to debug the candidate's code mentally on the fly well enough to see where bugs are. Having test cases you could run in the background would help draw attention to hints you can give them
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Jarrod Sinclair
Yes! some that only you can see and run again their code
Munir Usman
Jarrod Sinclair: I am curious why is it important to hide test cases from candidates in a live interview?
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Jared Casner
Munir Usman: I can't speak for Jarrod Sinclair, but here are some reasons I would want to hide the test cases:
- I like to use code challenges that start small and expand in scope during the interview. If the candidate can see all of the test cases, they will know that there is more to come, which can change their approach early on.
- I want to be able to use the same challenge for junior and senior candidates (e.g.: first 5 tests cases only apply to juniors, all 10 for seniors)
- Just passing the test cases does not necessarily mean the candidate has passed the code interview; a large portion of live coding (for me) is getting to see/hear the candidate's thought process. So, I don't necessarily want the candidate to see they have passed all test cases. Likewise, as with #2, a candidate who has high quality code but only covers 9/10 cases shouldn't necessarily walk away feeling like they have failed when they might still move to the next round
- As Josh Kuhn pointed out, sometimes the test cases are really just flags for interviewers to find some common mis-steps to guide the candidate more effectively. These would be distracting for the candidate.
Happy to jump on the phone to provide more context or color if you want.
Munir Usman
Jared Casner: Thanks Jared for the clarification. We will discuss this internally early next week and get back to you.
Munir Usman
Hi Jared Casner I will email you to schedule a call to discuss this further.