Taking a technical assessment is a common first step in the engineer hiring process—it allows employers to gain an early signal of candidate skill and gives applicants the opportunity to show off what they can do, regardless of their education or experience. Still, a coding assessment can be intimidating for many applicants.
That’s why CodeSignal Co-founder and CEO, Tigran Sloyan, held a fireside chat with members of Rewriting the Code, a nonprofit that supports and empowers college, graduate, and early career women in tech. Tigran answered members’ questions about how to best prepare for technical assessments and interviews, strategies for taking CodeSignal’s General Coding Framework, and how to build the right skills to land your first developer job.
This post summarizes Tigran’s key pieces of advice for excelling in technical interviews and assessments. You can watch the full recording of the conversation here.
Jump to a section:
- How assessments will help you land an interview
- Preparing for CodeSignal’s General Coding Framework
- Tips for any coding assessment
- What to expect when taking the General Coding Framework
- How the General Coding Framework is scored
- Managing your time during a coding assessment
- Common mistakes to avoid when taking an assessment
- How to excel in a live coding interview
- Final words of advice
How assessments will help you land an interview
Question: Assessments can be nerve-wracking. Why should students feel excited about assessments? How do assessments actually help candidates?
Tigran: I know assessments can be nerve-wracking. But, what’s the alternative? Without assessments, most people would never even get the shot because only so many people can get interviewed by companies, and the number of jobs is fairly limited.
When it comes to assessments, we at CodeSignal do two fundamental things. First, we make it as job-relevant as possible. Depending on the role you’re applying for, you’ll get a different assessment. For example, if you’re a front-end engineer with two years of experience, you’ll get a front-end assessment where you’ll be asked to build certain components. If you’re a data scientist, you’ll get some data and be asked to analyze it.
For early talent or new graduates, the assessments focus on foundational coding abilities, algorithms, and data structures because that’s what most schools teach and it’s a common denominator of knowledge. Programming is the foundation for all other things, so that’s what we focus on. It might feel less job-relevant, but it’s the best way to assess skills for a wide and diverse audience of newly graduating students.
Preparing for CodeSignal’s General Coding Framework
Question: What’s the best way for students to prepare for the GCF? What key strategies do you recommend?
Tigran: There are two components to preparing. One is the mental element: do you feel confident and ready? You get there by trying out something similar, like CodeSignal’s practice questions. These let you get comfortable with the coding environment, the types of questions, the timer, and the flow of the test. Just getting familiar with where the buttons are and how everything works can make a big difference. The more you practice, the more mentally prepared you’ll feel going into the real assessment.
The second component is skill level. You need to be comfortable with coding, algorithms, and data structures. Just recently, we launched CodeSignal Learn, which offers various learning paths. It’s designed to help you gradually improve your coding abilities and prepare for assessments.
For those in early talent, there’s a collection of learning paths called Interview Prep in CodeSignal Learn. They start with a fast-paced crash course for those who have an assessment coming up soon, and cover the foundational skills needed to perform well in coding assessments. And it’s not just about test prep—it’s about becoming better at the skill of coding itself.
Tips for any coding assessment
Question: More generally, how do you recommend early talent prepare for assessments, not just the GCF?
Tigran: When it comes to early talent, like I mentioned earlier, most companies focus on foundational skills. That’s why you’ll likely see coding, algorithms, and data structures questions in assessments. It’s about assessing skills that apply broadly across different job functions.
But if you want to specialize in a particular area—like data science, full-stack engineering, or machine learning—CodeSignal Learn offers paths for each career track. They’re tailored to different levels, from beginner to advanced, so you can pick where you’re at and keep progressing. We also have paths that focus on interview prep, where you can brush up on skills and get ready for assessments.
What to expect when taking the General Coding Framework
Question: Can you walk us through what a student can expect when they take the GCF? What is the format and structure of it?
Tigran: The GCF—General Coding Framework—is what I was referring to earlier when I mentioned the common denominator. Let me explain in more detail.
It focuses on fundamental coding ability, primarily algorithms and data structures. It’s a hard topic that takes a lot of practice to master, but many companies consider it foundational knowledge. The GCF contains four different questions, and you have roughly 70 minutes to complete your solutions.
One thing that I think people get confused about is that almost no company expects you to finish all four questions. You don’t need to stress about doing all four within the 70-minute time frame. Very few people, maybe 1 percent, finish all four questions, and that’s intentional. If everyone finished all four, it wouldn’t provide any differentiation for the companies.
The questions gradually increase in complexity. The first two questions are typically foundational, while the third and fourth questions are more advanced and involve optimization. The GCF helps companies identify candidates who struggled, those who did reasonably well, and those who excelled. Depending on how many roles they have to fill, they can decide to move forward with, say, the top 10, 20, or 30 percent.
That said, the GCF is rarely the only signal used to evaluate a candidate. It’s an important factor, but companies also take other things into account, like your background, interests, and values.
How the General Coding Framework is scored
Question: You mentioned there are four questions, and they gradually get harder, with only 1 percent of test takers completing all four. Can you tell us more about the factors that affect the final score? How does the scoring work?
Tigran: The questions don’t affect the final score equally. They have different levels of difficulty. The first question is usually very basic—I expect anyone who gets the GCF should be able to solve it.
The second question is also foundational. The real challenge begins with the third and fourth questions, which require more advanced coding skills and optimization. The first two questions should take less time, which allows you to spend more time on the more complex questions.
One thing that’s important to remember is that almost no one completes all four questions. It’s designed that way to differentiate between candidates. The scoring reflects this: If everyone finished all four questions, it wouldn’t help companies identify the top candidates.
Also, partial credit is given for incomplete answers. So, if you don’t finish a question, you can still earn points for the parts that are correct.
Managing your time during a coding assessment
Question: What’s the best way for candidates to manage their time effectively during the General Coding Framework assessment?
Tigran: First, I recommend going through the questions in order. The questions are designed to gradually increase in difficulty. So, jumping around between questions can be distracting and stressful. If you try to skip ahead, your brain is still going to be thinking about the other questions in the background, which just adds to the stress.
That’s why I suggest focusing on one question at a time and progressing through them in the order they’re given. If you have extra time at the end, you can always go back and review the earlier questions. But initially, sticking to the order helps you stay focused.
Common mistakes to avoid when taking an assessment
Question: What are some common mistakes that candidates make during assessments, and how can they avoid them?
Tigran: One of the biggest mistakes I see is candidates jumping between questions. It’s tempting to look at all the questions upfront and try to strategize which ones to solve first. But that usually just adds more stress. When you start thinking about multiple questions at once, it’s hard to focus, and your brain starts working in the background, trying to solve everything at the same time.
I recommend going through the questions in the order they’re presented. Start with the first question, complete it as thoroughly as possible, and then move on to the next one. If you try to skip ahead to the harder questions, you’ll be distracted and won’t perform as well.
Another common mistake is going into the assessment without trying a practice session first. A lot of candidates don’t take the time to familiarize themselves with the interface or the environment. This can create unnecessary stress when they’re trying to figure out how things work during the actual assessment.
A related mistake is not practicing coding enough beforehand. It’s like riding a bike—even if you know how to do it, if you haven’t ridden in a while, you’ll be rusty. The same goes for coding. You need to stretch your coding muscles before the assessment, especially when it comes to writing clean, structured code. Debugging is also an important skill. You want to make sure your code is not only correct but also efficient and easy to fix.
I always recommend practicing coding in the language you plan to use for the assessment. It helps get your brain into “coding mode” and refreshes your memory on syntax and structure. It’s very much like a spoken language — if you haven’t spoken it in a while, you’ll get rusty, and the same thing happens with programming languages.
How to excel in a live coding interview
Question: Do you have any advice for candidates who are preparing for interviews, especially coding interviews?
Tigran: My advice for technical interviews is to practice problem-solving as much as possible. Interviews are not just about answering a question correctly—they’re about showing how you approach a problem, how you think through it, and how you solve it.
One of the best ways to prepare for coding interviews is to work on problems that are similar to what you’ll face in the interview. Practice explaining your thought process out loud, because in the interview, it’s not just about writing code — you’ll need to walk the interviewer through your solution.
Also, get comfortable with debugging. In a real-world coding environment, things don’t always go as planned, and being able to quickly identify and fix bugs is an important skill. Make sure you’re comfortable using your IDE, running tests, and troubleshooting issues.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions. If something in the interview question isn’t clear, it’s better to ask for clarification than to make assumptions. Interviewers appreciate it when candidates take the time to fully understand the problem before diving into the solution.
A lot of candidates focus too much on the final answer, but the interviewer is really interested in how you think and approach problems. Being able to explain your process shows that you can break down complex problems, which is a critical skill for any software engineer.
Final words of advice
Question: Before we finish, is there any final advice or parting words you’d like to share with our audience as they head into the recruiting season?
Tigran: The most important thing you can do is focus on building your skills. If you focus on getting better at coding, everything else will follow. The recruiting process can be stressful, but the more confident you are in your abilities, the easier it will be. Don’t get too caught up in the outcome of any single assessment or interview. Instead, think about the long-term goal of becoming the best engineer you can be.
Also, remember that everyone’s journey is different. Some people get their dream job right away, while others take a longer path, and that’s okay. What matters is that you keep learning and growing. You’ll get there.
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Tigran Sloyan is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of CodeSignal, the leading skills platform empowering teams and individuals to discover and develop the skills that will shape the future. Tigran is a recognized voice in the industry—a TED speaker, Forbes Technology Council member, frequent keynote, and regular contributor to publications such as Forbes, Fast Company, Morning Brew, and more.