Whether you’re preparing for your first job interview, attempting to secure a FAANG job, or simply refreshing your problem-solving skills, selecting the right coding interview platforms can significantly impact your preparation.
More and more platforms now offer hundreds of carefully selected challenges, real-time mock interviews, and even feedback from peers or AI, all built right in. But not all platforms are meant to do the same thing. Some are focused on algorithms and data structures, while others are more focused on system design, behavioral problems, or pair programming.
Top Coding Interview Platforms
1. Coderbyte
There used to be a small library incorporated within Coderbyte‘s coding interview platforms, but it’s encouraging to see that it has now improved to include 2,000 problems and questions. It offers tests, interviews, and homework assignments, much like a lot of other sites in this field. What’s unique, though, is that their open-ended inquiries allow for two-minute video answers.
However, keep in mind that each account may only have 200 video replies each month; any more will need payment. Another noteworthy aspect of Coderbyte is that, alongside software and data science jobs, it and TestGorilla are the few companies in this sector that provide tools for evaluating product, design, sales, and marketing. By charging an extra $2 per applicant, you can also reward candidates for completing evaluations.
Regarding the assessment portion, the platform identifies basic cheating indicators like code similarity, copy/paste, and tab switching in addition to some special features like title masking, which obscures task titles with random, generic names to make it difficult for applicants to look up answers online.
Coderbyte also offers important reporting features like playback, benchmarking, auto-grading, platform anonymization, and authorization for group evaluations. Despite having reasonably priced plans, we see that several features—such as data export, branded domains, and custom branding—that are normally included in the most basic plans offered by most suppliers are offered as add-ons.
They provide a free trial, but you may only send exams to five applicants and must enter your credit card information. Moreover, the expense of increased concurrency might build up significantly ($299/month for 100 concurrencies) if you’re looking for tools to host hackathons or high-volume recruiting.
2. Qualified.io
One of our favorite features of Qualified.io’s technical evaluation platform is its useful library material. The pre-built library offers a variety of coding tasks that developers claim are very relevant to their daily work, despite the absence of certain languages. Furthermore, we saw that Qualified.io released some exciting product improvements, including additional challenges to the library and a new functionality for sending out mass invites to candidates.
The primary cause of this may be attributed to the platform’s online tech community, which consists of software developers and engineers. Standardized tests, code review tools, benchmarking, and fraud protection are some of the other methods the platform offers to evaluate and validate developers’ abilities, alongside the coding challenges.
According to many developers we spoke with, they had a favorable experience using Qualified.io’s exams since they considered the instructions to be useful and straightforward, and the tests were similar to real-world work. Employers find that using the current technologies to develop problems is simple. There are, however, limited alternatives for connecting the platform with other applications.
Qualified.io permits custom connections using APIs and webhooks if your company’s software isn’t on the list of pre-built connectors; however, there will be further costs on top of what you paid for the Team plan. The same applies to the reporting and exporting capabilities, which provide valuable benefits but will incur higher costs.
3. HackerEarth
It’s great to watch HackerEarth’s question library expand to include more than 1,000 abilities since we first saw it two years ago. We were particularly interested in the whole stack library. Employers and IT applicants alike commend it for its real-world scenario-based questions and support for a variety of front-end and back-end frameworks.
We explored numerous well-known software stacks, including PySpark, T-SQL, OpenAI, and LLM model construction, and each time, the platform provided several questions promptly. HackerEarth is a treasure trove for anybody interested in DevOps recruiting. The software offers a wide variety of pre-built, automatically assessed DevOps questions.
Two items in particular stood out to us as new features: The Smart Browser comes first. This feature provides a sealed-off testing environment that prohibits applicants from accessing the exam in a virtual machine, running other apps, or sharing their screen, as would be anticipated from an enterprise-centered solution.
Second, the upskilling solution received excellent feedback from L&D experts we spoke with about their use of it. HackerEarth’s Upskilling provides just that—a frequently updated question bank and a platform that most developers are acquainted with, without requiring them to work with a new LMS provider to create and assess learning programs.
But we couldn’t ignore a little price increase. The most recent costs for both plans have increased by $40, making them more unaffordable for small teams; previously, the costs were $169 for startups and $369 for corporations. For those on a tight budget, keep in mind that these costs do not include HackerEarth’s learning and development product or hackathons.
To utilize them, you will need to purchase them individually. The user interface of this, one of the best coding interview platforms, is very easy to use for developers, but not for employers, particularly those who are unfamiliar with online technical evaluation tools.
According to some of the people we talked with, it took them some time to learn about all the advantages this solution has to offer. Since non-custom plans only provide email and self-help assistance, we think that adding a live chat feature and more thorough online documentation might be very helpful to these people.
4. Codility
When evaluating Codility, our favorite feature is its potential to assist expanding tech companies in hiring engineers on a large scale. The platform’s CodeEvent offering might be a fantastic option for companies that often host training sessions for their internal IT staff or recruitment events to find the top university talent. Setting up the code challenges is simple, and anybody may participate.
To identify eligible applicants, you may visit CodeEvent’s leaderboard once the event is completed and examine each participant’s score, which is automatically determined by the platform. We are also intrigued by the platform’s capabilities, which assess a candidate’s soft skills alongside their technical and coding expertise.
You may engage with the applicant in real time by using the shared editor and whiteboard tools included in Codility’s live interviews. With these tools, the applicant may demonstrate how they solve a test case and collaborate with a peer on pair programming, giving a broad overview of their communication, problem-solving, and cooperation abilities.
With support for more than 90 languages and frameworks, Codility offers almost any well-known technology. In addition to offering a proprietary API, it can interface with certain HR technologies. We appreciated that the technology allowed us to invite applicants straight from LinkedIn after we tested combining it with LinkedIn Talent Solutions.
5. CodeSignal
CodeSignal helps businesses determine the skill sets of potential developers and engineers before they are employed by integrating pre-screening, technical screening, and interviewing tools into a single platform. The platform supports more than 70 languages, which is quite a number. We (as well as several developers) also highly recommend the integrated development environment (IDE).
The tool is among the most realistic and closest to developers’ daily work because of its look and features (autocomplete, discover references, and jump-to-definition). It’s easy to create a test on one of the top coding interview platforms. You have the option to create your evaluation or choose one from the current library, much as with almost every other tech assessment we reviewed.
Moreover, certain tests may be marked as templates for later usage. We dislike that there isn’t a built-in feature to distribute the test to a lot of applicants. You must either do each step individually or utilize ATS integration for large-scale tasks. Candidates are automatically given a coding score that impartially evaluates their abilities after completing an evaluation.
Furthermore, we observed that CodeSignal is one of the few platforms that allows recruiters to share a candidate’s assessment findings with others, even if its reporting tool does not include benchmarking. Depending on the access type you granted, the viewers may access your shared link without logging in to the platform. We also like CodeSignal’s practice of asking the applicant how they felt after each interview.
6. HackerRank
Forty percent of the more than 18 million developers in the community have already been evaluated by HackerRank’s developer evaluation platform. Many of HackerRank’s exam questions are leaked on other websites as a result of its popularity. The vendor has responded by introducing a new function that can automatically identify leaked questions and swap them out for fresh ones.
The dynamic nature of HackerRank’s tech evaluations is impressive. You may use its library, your library, or start from scratch when creating tests. Other test types include code reviews, where candidates must examine provided code and provide recommendations for enhancements, or role-specific examinations that gauge how well they would perform if they were a member of your development team.
While evaluating HackerRank, we also noted its diversity and inclusion tool, which allows you to arrange anonymized interviews, accommodate applicants with specific requirements, and keep personal information confidential. Similar characteristics are uncommon in other tech assessment systems. However, be aware that the library may include some grammatical mistakes. Therefore, we advise you to have your IT staff proofread all of your inquiries.
Read More: 8 Interview Scheduling Software For Hiring
7. Byteboard
Byteboard seeks to more objectively and successfully replace your in-person technical interviews. Although we looked at multiple suppliers in this field, Byteboard’s evaluation process is unique. There are two components to the evaluation.
The first exercise is the design document, which asks developers to examine the examples provided, make notes and questions about what they read, weigh their alternatives, and then propose a course of action while justifying their reasoning. The code implementation activity comes next, when candidates choose the software tools and language they want to use, make plans on how to use them, and create code.
The fact that Byteboard’s humans, not your people or their machines, rate the interview is what makes it even more awesome than other tech evaluation platforms. The internal software developers are taught to evaluate the interviews using their built-in rubrics, and all assessments are anonymous. The majority of the developers who participated in the Byteboard interview appeared to appreciate it.
According to them, the interview seems natural since there are no interviewers present, and they are given examples that are similar to the technical work they do daily. More significantly, however, it allows them to demonstrate their true abilities, which include coding, systems design, and problem-solving.
It’s also important to note that this is one of the best coding interview platforms; interviews are conducted separately, so applicants don’t interact directly with interviewers or other candidates. Through the interview design, the platform attempts to assess the candidate’s soft skills by asking the developer to read other people’s code, respond to questions, and pose their questions.
8. CoderPad
For a variety of reasons, CoderPad is one of our best choices for tech evaluation software. Its live collaborative interview technology is the most important of them. This enables smooth collaboration with your hiring team, real-time problem-solving inside a functioning integrated development environment (IDE), and the ability to see applicants in action.
Notably, the tests include a considerable variety of programming languages and frameworks—more than 40, to be exact—and are not limited to English alone. They also extend to French and Spanish.
CoderPad is a good choice if you want adaptability. With the recent inclusion of the Jupyter notebook as a feature, data scientists may now use it in addition to developers. But we can’t help but hope that Jupyter will be used to include playback. The assessment procedure would greatly benefit from it.
9. CodeInterview
With an emphasis on real-time cooperation and an easy-to-use interface, CodeInterview was created especially for live coding interviews. We like how its collaborative editor is adaptable enough for various technical evaluations, supporting more than 30 programming languages. One very helpful tool is the replay function, which allows you to thoroughly examine a candidate’s coding session to have a deeper understanding of their methodology.
CodeInterview guarantees clear communication between the interviewer and the applicant with its integrated high-definition audio and video. Because of its simple layout, applicants are able to concentrate entirely on finding a solution. CodeInterview offers the necessary resources for efficient assessments, whether you’re doing a database challenge, front-end evaluation, or live coding exam.
Benefits Of Coding Interview Platforms
Using the finest coding interview platforms may benefit talent acquisition teams in several important ways. It is intended to evaluate an applicant’s chances of succeeding in a possible career, much like any other pre-employment candidate evaluation platform. Nonetheless, there are certain advantages to this particular kind of online coding interview software.
- A larger talent pool: Online coding assessment tools and video interviews are excellent methods to access a larger talent pool if you’re trying to employ software developers from across the world.
- Saving time: To start, your software developers won’t have to invest as much time in the first stages of the hiring process. They can now spend more time coding as a result. This productivity boost is often comparable to a business employing 10% more software engineers.
- Better candidate experience: With your software engineer screenings now automated, you can assess more candidates. This makes it possible for more individuals to pass the test and demonstrate their coding abilities beyond what is shown on their resumes.
- Better employees: Without a doubt, your technical staff is excellent, but are they the best interviewers? How many job seekers do they unjustly reject in the beginning, just because their area of expertise isn’t hiring? By using structured interview questions that evaluate proficiency in the programming languages you care about most, standardized coding exams help you evaluate top job candidates more accurately.
- Diversity recruiting: An engineering testing tool helps reduce hiring prejudices brought about by people’s subconscious thoughts by objectively assessing applicants’ talents. This implies that those who possess the necessary abilities will go on to the next stage.
- Improved hiring signal: Developers’ true abilities are often not reflected in resumes. Employers may increase their talent pool and assess applicants more thoroughly by using coding exams in place of potentially deceptive resumes.
- Simple to use: Free trials are available for the majority of these developer evaluation systems. This implies that you can rapidly comprehend a tool’s workflow and how it may affect your technical recruiting procedure. Because both companies must support this project, we recommend that someone from engineering and recruitment be engaged throughout any pilot or trial period.
FAQ
Q: A Coding Interview Platform: What Is It?
A: An integrated environment that allows applicants to develop, test, and debug code in real time is what makes a coding interview platform a specialist tool for technical interviews. In order to expedite the employment process, it often incorporates tools like automated test case reviews, real-time collaboration, and online code editors for interviews.
Q: What distinguishes conventional coding assessments from online coding interview platforms?
A: An online coding interview platform, in contrast to conventional coding assessments, provides a live, interactive setting where the interviewer and applicant may work together in real time. This arrangement assesses a candidate’s communication and problem-solving skills in addition to their technical proficiency.
Q: Are there any possibilities for free coding assessment platforms?
A: Indeed, a lot of platforms provide a free code evaluation option, enabling businesses to do preliminary screenings without having to pay a lot of money. Before switching to more sophisticated tools, these free solutions, which often have minimal capabilities, might be a wonderful method to assess applicants.