5 common mistakes to avoid in coding challenges

As a hiring manager for several software engineering teams I have studied hundreds of scorecards in the last years. One part of the hiring process is the coding challenge, a way to assess the applicants’ proficiency in relation to the challenges there are in the product development.

There is a lot of debate on whether you should have a coding challenge or not. I have my personal preferences and insights, of course. Notwithstanding, this summary is dedicated to enlightening about common mistakes in coding challenges — and how you can avoid them using good practices.

Different companies have different expectations. So do different hiring managers. Some of these standards will be encoded in the actual task or announced in the hiring process. More often, however, companies will not divulge what the common practices in their organizations are. And candidates might wonder, ultimately deciding on a course of action that they like best.

No matter which path leads forward, there are some commonalities across the industry. Here is a summary of the most common mistakes:

Not actually solving the problem

This is one of the less common, but most obvious mistakes. Reading through the challenge and immediately proceeding to solving it is never a good idea.