How to assess technical skills — the right way

How to Assess a Candidate's Skills During a Technical Interview at a Startup

As a startup founder, assessing a candidate's technical skills during an interview is crucial to the success of your business. Finding the right person for the job can make all the difference, and technical interviews are an essential part of the hiring process. In this blog post, we'll cover how to assess a candidate's skills during a technical interview at a startup.

When we asked Twitter, relevant experience was one of the most important factors hiring managers and founders were looking for during the technical interview.

Here’s how to prep properly to make the best use of your time.

Planning the Technical Interview

Before you start the interview, it's important to plan and structure the interview process.

Here are some steps you can take:

1. Review the candidate's resume and job application to get an idea of their experience and skillset. Look for candidates with diverse backgrounds who can bring unique perspectives to your team.

2. Create a structured interview plan that includes specific questions and tasks that will assess the candidate's technical skills. This will help you stay on track during the interview and ensure that you cover all the necessary topics.

3. Set realistic expectations and benchmarks for the candidate's performance. As a startup, you need someone who can hit the ground running and contribute to the success of your business. While relevant experience may be important, you're also assessing other factors like adaptability, critical thinking and communication skills.

Pro-tip: Give the candidate a heads up of the structure of your time together this will also help them with accurate expectations and keep them at ease during the interview process.

Do: Ask clear, specific questions related to their technical skills and experience.

Don’t: Don't rely solely on a candidate's resume or past experience to make your assessment.

For more information on hiring your first engineer, read our blog post.

Types of Technical Interview Questions and Tasks

There are different types of technical interview questions and tasks you can use to assess a candidate's skills. Here are a few examples:

• Coding challenges: These exercises test the candidate's ability to write code and solve problems. Look for candidates who can think creatively and come up with innovative solutions to complex problems.
• System design exercises: These tasks test the candidate's ability to design and implement a complex system. Look for candidates who can work on systems with limited resources and who can design scalable solutions.
• Debugging scenarios: These tasks test the candidate's ability to diagnose and fix issues in an existing codebase. Look for candidates who can work collaboratively with other developers and who can troubleshoot issues quickly.

  Each type of question or task has its own pros and cons:

• Coding challenges are great for evaluating a candidate's coding abilities, but they don't necessarily test their ability to work on a team or communicate effectively.
• System design exercises are great for evaluating a candidate's ability to design and implement a complex system, but they can take a long time to complete.
• Debugging scenarios are great for evaluating a candidate's ability to diagnose and fix issues in an existing codebase, but they don't necessarily test their ability to write code from scratch.
• The coding interview is evaluating critical thinking, problem solving and adaptability - all important factors to look for when hiring for a startup environment.

Do: Evaluate the candidate on a combination of technical and soft skills, such as communication, collaboration, and adaptability.

Don't: Jump to conclusions or make assumptions about the candidate's abilities based on a limited amount of information.

Conducting the Technical Interview

During the interview, it's important to create a comfortable and supportive environment for the candidate.

Here are some tips:

• Create a relaxed atmosphere: Start the interview with small talk and try to make the candidate feel comfortable. This will help them relax and perform better.
• Ask open-ended questions: Ask questions that require more than a simple yes or no answer. This will give the candidate an opportunity to showcase their knowledge and experience.
• Observe the candidate's problem-solving skills: Pay attention to the candidate's approach to problem-solving. Are they methodical? Do they think outside the box? Do they ask good questions?
• Evaluate the candidate's communication skills: Technical skills are important, but communication skills are also crucial. Pay attention to how the candidate communicates their thought process and how they collaborate with others.

  Do: Listen attentively to the candidate's responses and ask follow-up questions for clarification.

  Don't: Ignore red flags or warning signs during the interview, such as lack of preparation or unprofessional behavior.

Assessing the Candidate's Skills and Making a Decision

After the interview, it's time to assess the candidate's skills and determine whether they're a good fit for the job.

Here are some strategies:

• Evaluate the candidate's performance: Review the candidate's performance on each question or task. Did they complete the tasks successfully? Did they demonstrate a deep understanding of the concepts?
• Compare the candidate's skills against the job requirements and expectations

  Do: Consider the candidates skillset and skills and the match for your startup.

  Don't: Neglect to provide constructive feedback to the candidate after the interview.

Recruit with Wellfound

Assessing technical talent involves a variety of tactics, and there is no one way to successfully do so. Providing a transparent interview process allows you to listen and adapt to your candidate while applying a multitude of methods to gauge not only technical skill, but also attitude, adaptability, and communication skills will give you the best results and, ideally, help you find the perfect person for the job in no time.

Get started with recruiting on Wellfound today.