If you plan on landing a software engineering role in 2024, you'll need to know how companies hire software engineers and assess their technical skills.
The technical interview is (in my humble opinion) the most crucial step throughout the interview process. Most companies won't let you proceed if you fail the technical interview.
Knowing the recruitment process will help you tailor your job search and successfully land your first (or whatever number) software engineering role.
Let's start.
1. Coding Challenge
From my experience, the coding challenge is the most used approach to assess technical competency.
A coding challenge is a test which usually requires you to know data structures and algorithms to solve a problem.
Software engineers take these challenges on coding platforms such as HackerRank, Codility, etc., which have a built-in editor where you can type the code.
Beware that some of these platforms send you a warning message if you click on a tab outside the test. It's a sign the company wants you to be able to solve the challenge without the help of Google.
These coding challenges may or may not be timed. There could be multiple coding tasks to complete, scaling from easy to difficult to assess how excellent your problem-solving skills are.
Related: 5 Actionable Steps to Land Your First Software Engineering Role
Within a test, you may be required to answer multiple-choice questions (in short, a quiz).
2. Take-Home Assignments
Take-home assignments are the second most-used approach to assess technical competency.
A take-home assignment is a task sent to you via email, which you'll have to complete in time.
I sometimes find take-home assignments hilarious because the interviewers will tell you they take "just a couple of hours to complete". But they never do, so beware of that.
A take-home assignment can involve creating a small application from scratch.
Interviewers often want to see highly readable code accompanied by tests in these assignments.
3. Pair Programming Exercise
Pair programming is a programming style involving two people working collaboratively to solve a problem.
In a pair-programming interview, the interviewee will have to solve the problem collaboratively with the interviewer.
Often, you may not be expected to complete the entire exercise, but they'll want to know your thought process and that you know how to communicate and collaborate with other people.
This expectation varies from interviewer to interviewer.
4. Culture Fit
This approach is much less common than the others, but it exists.
The culture-fit interview usually consists of asking about your previous experience and verbal questions about the technologies you used.
I'll say this:
Not all companies will require you to code during the interview process.
Outside of the FAANG companies and other major organizations, many small to medium companies in small towns struggle to hire engineers.
Conclusion
This article presented you with how companies will hire software engineers in 2024.
My favourite approach is the pair-programming exercise because whether you succeed or not, there is a high chance you can learn something from the other interviewer (who's usually more experienced).
The other styles of interviews don't offer much chance of receiving feedback.
Which do you prefer? Let me know in the comments.
Until next time!
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