Hiring the right engineer is like finding the perfect avocado—one wrong move, and you’re stuck with a bitter aftertaste. You’ve got a few hours to decide if the candidate is a fit. If you pick the wrong one, you’re left deciding between fixing the problem or tossing the whole thing. And trust me, it’s easier to teach someone to code than to turn a bad fit into a team player. So, let’s not forget those soft skills in the hiring process, even for our dear code warriors.

Let’s face it: making seasoned engineers do coding challenges can feel like asking a chef to boil an egg. They've been around the block, so instead of asking them to print prime numbers, toss them some design or architecture questions. They’ll thank you for it. 

At Funding Circle, we would send a problem description to a candidate. Our standard problem was to ask them to write code to list the first 100 prime numbers.  This sounds straightforward—until they Google the answer faster than you can say "Eratosthenes". Sure, they get to code in their favorite language, but now with AI in the mix, it’s even easier to cheat. I mean, I just got COBOL code from an AI while writing this! So, while this method reduces stress, it doesn’t exactly scream “original thinker.”

Then there’s the assembly line approach: platforms like HackerRank or Coderpad, where candidates face a gauntlet of coding problems. The upside? A single test can gauge everyone from rookies to veterans. The downside? The ticking clock can make even seasoned pros sweat bullets, and coding in an unfamiliar web UI is like playing the piano with oven mitts.

My favorite method? A live, interactive coding session where an interviewer watches the candidate in action, like a coding reality show. Here, candidates explain their thinking, ask questions, and you get to see if they have the chops and can communicate. I once had an engineer who didn’t finish the challenge, but her thought process and communication were so spot-on that we offered her the job anyway. It’s a win-win—you get to assess both technical skills and the all-important soft skills.

In the end, the best coding challenges are interactive, allowing you to see the candidate’s true colors. And remember, not finishing the challenge isn’t the end of the world—it’s how they tackle the problem that counts.