Why Solve A Geektrust Coding Challenge?

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”Anybody can write code for a computer, it’s writing it for humans that’s hard.”

Even the briefest of glances at our website will highlight two things. One, that we’ve partnered with some fantastic startups and, two, that we care far more about code than resumés. More often than not these days, your ability, not your qualifications, determines whether you are the right fit for a company.

Both of the above are brought together by our unique coding challenges that test your fundamentals — object modeling, code readability and extensibility, data structure usage, etc. The simple but powerful point of these challenges is that they allow you to showcase your coding skills, creativity and problem solving approach in a fun and efficient manner. This code and our evaluation are then accessible to all of our 200+ companies who can see clearly why you’re the right fit for them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine if résumés were written, not in English, but in Ruby, NodeJS or Java! 

At this point you must be thinking, “Wow, this sounds amazing. It must be really expensive!”. 

Well, it’s actually free

Really. No hidden charges, or fine print. Here’s a handy guide to help you get started right away. 

Just in case you need more convincing, read on as to why our coding challenges are the next best thing since sliced bread. 

I really liked the idea of solving a coding problem and that being used as a baseline for judging your skill as a software developer for further interviews. Applying via Geektrust feels like a much more efficient and skill-focused process. It probably took less than half the time it takes through a regular job portal, and definitely more streamlined, and efficient.

I keep recommending Geektrust to my friends. Compared to horror stories I hear of people spending months hunting for a job through regular portals, getting bad offers, I had a very pleasant experience finding a job and that too within two weeks. Geektrust is definitely worth a shot for them.” – Amith George

You can read an interview with Amith here.

Guaranteed Interviews

Developers who successfully solve Geektrust challenges are pursued by companies (not the other way around). And not just any company; but companies doing interesting work, and looking to hire the best.

Why? Because the companies that hire through Geektrust have seen the value firsthand – in the challenges, our evaluation, and the ethos of beginning with code. There’s also an overarching focus on Clean Code built into our challenges, which makes them a far better indication of a candidate’s potential to solve real-world problems than hyper-focused algo tests – but more on this later. 

In short, solve a challenge and get instant access to interviews. It’s that simple. There are a bunch to choose from and we add new challenges every month. Plus you can solve them in any language you like. 

Clean Code Focus

Clean code matters for a variety of reasons – the most important of which is its readability. In a real world setting, multiple people may need to work on code simultaneously, and companies often need to access code written previously, perhaps by devs no longer in the organisation. If all of this code was clean – easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to extend – then the company can iterate, improve and innovate rapidly. 

Our challenges are designed to test just that and are the definitive answer to the question that keeps most tech recruiters up at night:

“Good resumé but… what if their code’s bad?!” 

via GIPHY

The clean code approach works better than conventional coding tests or even hackathons. The latter is good to test your skills in a vacuum but isn’t as applicable in day-to-day situations. Our approach is designed to test skills that are more relevant and practical, and hence indicate to employers that you could be writing code for them that’s usable both today and in the future. 

“A friend asked me to check Geektrust out when I was looking for a job. Other platforms have problem statements where there are test cases and I just have to pass that. What I liked about Geektrust were the problem statements. It makes us think about the whole system at once. The second thing was the feedback I got on my code. It made me want to rewrite and submit again. The job search was easier because companies have my code. The first screening is not with a resume but with code. Makes things really simple.” – Akanksha Priyadarshini

 

 

 

One Code

Solving a single Geektrust challenge eliminates the need to take multiple coding tests for each of the companies you’re interested in. This works so well, that our hiring events are now called OneCode Weekends. 

Because one code is all you need.

Imagine if you had to write code just once to get a job. And never had to solve another challenge. Solve just one and you’ll have over 200 companies interested in your profile. Pretty powerful stuff. And they’ll reach out to you because you’ve elegantly showcased your ability to write clean code – proving something crucial that no interview or resumé could show them. 

But don’t just take our word for it, here’s what Malay Mehta had to say, after solving one of our challenges: 

“I spent almost 2 months searching for a good opportunity and kept getting rejected for silly reasons. Without even checking my coding ability!

This situation led me to wonder whether there is anybody out there in the industry who believes in coding? By chance, I found Krishnan Nair’s post in one of the Bangalore Startup groups on Facebook. I went to the Geektrust website and for real saw some great innovation and people who believe what I believe – CODING. The journey started, I solved some of the challenges, got feedback, went for the ‘Code with Geektrust’ event, and this finally led to a Dream Job.

You know I was also amazed when I got an offer from a well-established startup. The reason was all they had was just my name, email, mobile number and code – exactly what I was looking for! They were not even interested in my university scores, truly believed in the skill I have and completed the interview process fast.” 

In Competition With Yourself

And nobody else. 

We believe that leaderboards have no place in our coding challenges because they’re mostly irrelevant to how problems are tackled and beautiful solutions are built in the real world. 

Rather than succeeding alone at the expense of everyone else, in reality, success is the result of groups of people working together towards a common goal. 

This applies to personal growth as well – you evolve by trying, learning from failure and making small improvements everyday. It has quite little to do with anyone else really.

Level Up Your Code

We’ve spoken at length about the numerous benefits of solving these challenges but what if you aren’t at that level yet? We’ve actually had many people say that being introduced to Geektrust’s coding challenges, clean code, or our approach to finding jobs changed their life

Along with being the conduit by which innovative startups find the next great developer, Geektrust challenges are also the means by which you can learn, improve and evolve your code. This is why on Geektrust you can submit code, get feedback, improve and re-submit, get more feedback, and keep optimising for higher scores or earning more of the clean code badges.

Preeti's contribution to the office smoking area

“The first time I wrote code, I got a score of 2. I got some helpful mentoring from the reviewers and I solved and submitted again. The structure of the challenges is also great – I feel like it’s a real world problem when I sit down to solve. It’s complex, awesome – I applied random shuffling and probability and data structures to solve the problem and worked on code maintainability and other important aspects. Today my code is more flexible.

It’s not like other platforms – though the journey wasn’t easy, I found good companies. And I believe good things don’t come easy.”  Preeti Sharma

The Journey

Interestingly, we’ve found that the developers who have had the most success with our challenges weren’t out to just “pass a test” in order to find a job. Instead, people who love to code – for no reason other than the act itself – are the ones who find great jobs through us. The idea of your code is your resumé resonates with them, and they want their code to be the primary representation of who they are. 

These are also the kinds of developers who are in it for the journey rather than just the destination.

From being introduced to code (Hello World!), to learning their first languages, to building solutions, to failing miserably, to learning and growing, right up until they’re writing at a level where their skills are marketable and they’ve turned what was once an interest or hobby into a career, and even beyond that. For all the sleepless nights, frustrating fixes, power fluctuations, job fairs, interviews, and first days at a new job. 

This journey, this path from starting line to finish, is what inspires us at Geektrust to continue building solutions and experiences that can help the development community thrive. 

Our humble ode to code.

5 comments

  1. For a learner is there any assistance for learning while trying to solve the coding challenges offered by geek trust.

    1. Hi, You can check help.geektrust.in – where we have multiple resources on how to solve a challenge and how to write clean code. We also have a partnership with crio.do for people who want to join an upskilling program or bootcamp. Do write to us at help@geektrust.in for more information.

  2. Great post! Is there any way for learners to test their abilities with the languages? There’s an awful lot of coding challenges out there that don’t really help learners adapt their skills

  3. Geektrust seems like an awesome way for developers to find their skill level, and get a job while they are at it. Although, we have often seen that coding skills are extremely important, but, it’s the knowledge of tech stacks and project management that matters more!

    Wonderfully insightful article! Loved the wording of an Ode to Code! 💓

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