The Best Alternative to Coding Interview Platforms
With remote hiring and the adoption of hybrid work systems, software engineering interviews have evolved.
In the days of yore, mastery of data structures and algorithms were more than enough to qualify a developer.
Nowadays, a potential candidate must possess other skills, including real-world coding experience, knowledge of systems architecture, and excellent collaboration, to name a few.
Remember when you had to go through the same stressful interview stages as the candidate?
- Technical phone interview to gauge the candidates’ enthusiasm and qualifications
- Remote code interview questions to test for technical skills
- Online technical interviews or the dreaded whiteboard
- Welcome to the organization; after 35 long, stressful, and sleep-deprived days, you have your developer.
The need to minimize interview resources and maximize talent acquisition has led to an emergence of coding interview platforms. These platforms shorten the time it takes to prep, interview, hire, and onboard developers.
Among the pioneers and most popular interview platforms for developers is CoderPad. Over the years, CoderPad alternatives (like Woven) have emerged to provide more streamlined interview processes in line with modern developer needs. These alternatives ensure you hire only the best.
Let’s take a look at some of these interview platforms for developers.
Online coding interview tool
The virtual interview is here to stay. According to a Handshake report, 89% of employees favor remote interviews.
While the global pandemic acted as the catalyst for remote interviews, you can’t deny the bucketloads of benefits your organization now enjoys: a streamlined interview process, shorter interview time, and improved candidate experience.
Online coding interview tools take remote coding interviews notches higher. They follow a pair programming concept by letting you (the interviewer) collaborate with the candidate in real time to solve various coding challenges. With a web-based integrated development environment (IDE), you can launch the interview tool from most web browsers, making it easier to conduct the coding interview from anywhere.
These tools also have free online code editors that make writing and viewing the source codes easy. You can differentiate all the elements, and the candidates can view their source codes simultaneously.
So, prep your interview questions and go to town with the candidate.
Strengths
- Requires no setup
- Increased accessibility
- Easy collaboration
- Immediate feedback
- Reduced costs since they have free online IDEs and code editors
Drawbacks
- Network interruptions are common
- The tech might fail
- Increased anxiety/nervousness for you and the candidate
- Time-consuming interviews
While online coding interview tools have some benefits, there are also pitfalls. You can’t use these tools in a place with slow internet or outdated tech. They also require a time commitment from you that must line up with the candidate’s availability.
If only there was an asynchronous technical interview platform…
LeetCode
LeetCode is a website containing a pool of more than 1,900 multiple solution coding questions that help both seasoned and inexperienced developers prepare for technical interviews. LeetCode interview questions vary in degree: easy, medium, and difficult, all geared towards improving the candidate’s composition or getting into FAANG.
Over the years, technical interviews have become more challenging, demanding, and formulaic. Worse still, the coding questions in these interviews and whiteboards rarely reflect real-world challenges.
LeetCode has evolved with these changes, making it a valuable resource for potential candidates. The website supports a wide range of programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, C++, Scala, among others.
LeetCode’s problems are also organization-specific, allowing candidates a glimpse into the types of problems they’d be solving on the job. However, they have to subscribe to a premium plan to get the juicy stuff.
Strengths
- Supports an array of programming languages
- Offers real-world coding challenges
- A large and active community of users for added peer support
Drawbacks
- Focuses more on code and overlooks soft skills
- Only premium subscription users can access the best resources
- Lacks in-depth explanations to solutions
LeetCode might be a helpful resource, but it shuts out people who can’t afford premium subscriptions. Plus, a candidate has to use other online resources to maximize the platform’s benefits.
CoderPad
We mentioned that CoderPad is among the earliest and most popular coding interview platforms for conducting coding interviews with potential developers. This platform follows the pair programming concept by enabling collaboration between you and the candidate in writing, running, and debugging code. This collaboration might be real-time or in the form of a take-home project.
While real-time collaboration is available on all CoderPad plans, take-home projects are only available to business and enterprise subscribers.
CoderPad has a simple dashboard where you can start new interviews (commonly referred to as ‘Pads’) and track the candidate’s progress. You can also perform a code review since the platform stores everything, including the code output.
Additionally, CoderPad interview questions support several programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, and CoffeeScript, to name a few.
Strengths
- Easy to set up
- Various plans and subscription models to suit organizations of all sizes
- Free trial and free subscription, albeit with limited features
- The online IDE and code editor enables fast debugging and supports an array of languages
Drawbacks
- Limited collaboration on more complex projects such as debugging a React Native application
- Costly tiers and subscription models, especially if you’re interviewing less than five candidates
- Limited testing on front-end and back-end technologies such as React and Ruby on Rails, respectively
Unfortunately, CoderPad’s lacking functionalities might contribute to you hiring the wrong candidate — especially if you can’t conduct an effective, exhaustive, and streamlined technical interview.
CodeInterview
CodeInterview is a web-based coding interview platform that is used to test potential candidates. It empowers the interviewer and the candidate to engage in a collaborative interview process. The platform’s online code editor and compiler support a wide range of programming languages, including front-end languages such as React and Express, among others.
CodeInterview offers effective communication with audio/video features. They also have “playback mode” where you can review every detail of the interview, including the coding output. The platform locks out candidates by deploying privacy control to ensure only you and your team can review the interview and results.
CodeInterview works similarly to CoderPad. However, CoderPad lacks functionalities
(such as testing front-end languages) that make CodeInterview a common CoderPad alternative. And CodeInterview plans start as low as $5 per interview.
Strengths
- Improved candidate experience with an easy-to-use dashboard and code editors
- Supports a pool of programming languages, including front-end languages
- Pocket-friendly plans
- Availability of additional functionalities such as SSO and code reviewers
Drawbacks
- Caps the number of candidates you can interview monthly despite having a monthly pricing plan
- Limited reporting capabilities
- Requires extra resources for remote code screening and take-home projects
So what happens when you have more candidates than what CodeInterview allows? You need a platform that can assess all your candidates within the time and resources allocated.
CodeShare
If you’re looking for a CoderPad free alternative, then CodeShare might be the coding interview platform for you. It’s known for its simplicity and easy-to-use controls, and the website allows you to create a collaborative environment with candidates.
The collaboration occurs in real-time; a candidate shares the code with you via the online code editor. You can observe every step the candidate takes in solving various coding challenges during the interview.
Strengths
- Free platform
- Audio/video features allow for effective collaboration
- Doesn’t require you to sign in
Drawbacks
- Doesn’t save your work permanently, especially if you don’t have an account
Conclusion
Now you know the different coding interview platforms on the market today. Some are fit for an interviewer, while others help the candidate sharpen their skills.
What if there was a way to have these two functions in a single coding assessment tool?
You need a versatile platform to assess candidates — a platform that goes way beyond code to include skills such as collaboration, debugging, troubleshooting, architecture, and real-world scenarios.
Enter Woven.
Our platform helps you find hidden gem developers while reducing your hiring time and using a third of your recruiting budget. Plus, our well-designed assessments are evaluated by senior engineers who provide personalized feedback to every candidate.
If you’re an engineering leader looking for top software engineering talent, we invite you to start a free trial today.
