TNW Quick Hit
CodeEval lets you create custom coding problems to help you better sort through job cantidates.
Love It: Tried and true methods, with a unique approach. Custom or pre-selected problems.
Hate It: Automatic scoring might not be in line with your own ideas. Can still require manual assessment.
Overall: 4/5
The Details
I have to first say that I’m not a code warrior. I’m about as hacker-worthy as the kids from a bad 90’s movie. However, I can certainly appreciate being on the hiring end of a difficult decision. CodeEval is hoping to make that decision a little bit easier for those who are hiring job candidates for coding positions.
Free for academic use, and reasonably priced otherwise, CodeEval is an interesting twist to the hiring process of code writers. When you have a stack of qualified candidates, it’s like finding a needle in a stack of needles. CodeEval hopes to narrow your search by allowing you to create problems and then have the same problem solved by all potential hires.
You can set up problems in a variety of langauges, including Python, C, C++, Java, Ruby and even Perl or PHP. If you’re short on time, CodeEval even has a Knowledge Base of problems from which you can choose.
Once your candidates are finished with a challenge, you will then be notified of their finished submission and you can look at their work. This is the single area where CodeEval doesn’t fully replace a human’s interaction. Because of the varying ways in which some code can be written, you’ll still want to make certain that a candidates submission fits your personal needs.
As with any great service, CodeEval has a beautifully-designed dashboard that will help you to keep track of current problems and candidates. Overall, it seems like a great service for the right people.
If you’re in the hiring process, give CodeEval a try and let us know what you think, eh?
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