In a previous post I shared some data showing that the vast majority of engineering managers do a technical screen before arranging an on-site interview. I do the same and furthermore feel that it’s critical to:
- Drive agreement with your team on the technical skills that every engineer in your organization must have.
- Test in a repeatable way, allowing for apples/apples comparison between candidates.
- Test candidates for these skills offsite.
Defining the Bar
Recently I’ve streamlined my screening efforts. I’ve defined a “Technical Bar” that focuses on seven skill areas. I test for these using an offsite test heavily influenced by Steve Yegge’s blog, Five Essential Phone Screen Questions. Any engineer, regardless of target position, must have a solid working knowledge of:
- Coding
- Data modeling
- *nix shell / command line
- How the web works
- Object Orientated Design
- Databases (RDBMS, KV etc)
- Data structures
I’ve definitely benefited from this approach, saving both my time and the time of candidates by quickly identifying the people with the skills and experience that I’m looking for. Consequently I can spend most of my interviewing time in in-depth, in-person interviews with suitable candidates.
Test Mechanics
The actual mechanics of the test have proved to be trickier. I’ve experimented with a few methods including coediting Google Docs and Skype screen sharing. These work to a degree but have considerable drawbacks.
Google Docs provides a convenient shared notepad, but creates a rather alien coding environment. It’s also fairly limiting since neither the interviewer or the interviewee can compile or run code.
Screen sharing on Skype works somewhat better but dropped calls are common over the inevitably less than stellar connection. It also doesn’t give the interviewer any access to the code being written. Ideally the interviewer can run the code and record the result of the test conveniently.
If you’re interested in trying an alternative, theReq.com is currently looking for alpha testers for their free technical phone screening service. Check out the demo video if you’re interested in learning more.