How can we test a developer's skills?

Posted by Rodrigo Cauduro on April 27, 2009 under Miscellaneous | Be the First to Comment

Hi Tom,

I've just joined the group (Hi everyone!). I just recently spoke with a recruitment firm who have these types of tests for candidates - http://aquent.co.uk/ We have not used them yet, but they looked to be on the right track with the testing side of things. They even had a booklet with the types of test they do for each type of skillset. 
Of course, the best advice would be to find a highly skilled/experienced developer to evaluate your candidate, but that depends on how much time you have.
Good luck with the search!
Quick intro about me
I manage the London office of w3haus.com, a creative digital agency with offices in Brazil as well as here. Personally, I have created a few small personal projects online, but nothing major and am interested in the whole startup side of things. 
Cheers!
Rodrigo.

On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 11:55 AM, Tom Watts <[address removed]> wrote:

Hi everyone.

Long time listener, first time caller.

I was hoping that someone on this group could offer some advice…

We're in the business of building and running online communities for research and innovation, which we deliver to brands and agencys. Part of our proposition is the delivery of our bespoke social network tool.

To date, we have been working with an external agency, who have done a good job at building our product to specification. However, as business ramps up, we are looking to refine the product and introduce new features and services. As such, it has become necessary to recruit a developer, who is versed in the use open source tools (LAMP).

We've looked around and have a good final list of candidates, who we feel could be a good 'fit' to our existing team.

The one area that we have yet to test for is the ability to actually code – including their approach to coding. Not having these skills internally, it is difficult for us to achieve this. As such we were hoping to find some form of test that we could give them.

In my mind, I thinking of a simple 1-2 hour exercise, whereby the candidates could make a simple web application/service/feature, which would demonstrate their skills. We have a friendly developer who could then look through what they have made and give us an idea of their abilities.

Is there such a test that people know of? If not, perhaps there is a different approach that someone has used successfully?

Either way, I would very much appreciate any ideas people may have.

Thanks in advance

Tom

Tom Watts
Director

w: dubstudios.com
t: +44 (0) 20 8123 3452
m: +44 (0) 7791 163 866
skype: tomwatts22

dub I Communities for Insight & Innovation

Youmeus Ltd t/a Dub Studios is registered in England and Wales, Registration No: 6167745 and registered at The Pines, Boars Head, Crowborough, East Sussex. TN6 3HD


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Rodrigo Cauduro
W3Haus – can't stop changing.
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