The Ultimate Guide to assess Software Developers

Your employer brand is never what you say it is. It’s what your employees and candidates say it is. This quote is perhaps the best way to define the importance of hiring in modern times, when finding talented software developers has only become more challenging. Gone are the days when good software developers were only required by big tech. However, technology and Artificial Intelligence have penetrated so many aspects of our lives that no matter the industry, every company requires good software developers.

However, hiring good software developers is easier said than done. The industry is so dynamic and changing that recruiters find it hard to match their own interviewing skills with new developments. This is why a good and robust recruitment strategy is the need of the hour for organizations looking to navigate this murky situation smoothly.

There are no perfect software developers, only the right ones. 

The initial problem that arises when recruiting software developers is that it is such a large field that no developer is skilled at every aspect of it. Software development is not a skill or field but rather a philosophy. So, every company demands expertise in specific skills and responsibilities. These skills and responsibilities vary from company to company based on their demands. This is why there are no perfect software developers, only the right ones. 

For example, a software developer might be great at Amazon Web Services (AWS) but might not like operating Terraform. In addition, there are innumerable languages in which software development is done. Finally, comes the responsibilities. For example, some companies want a software developer who is a CI/CD pipeline expert, while others may want one who is skilled at Kubernetes. In a nutshell, hiring a good software developer is like killing ten birds with one stone.

This is why many times companies struggle while hiring software developers because they can’t find an individual that has expertise on the specific tools that the organization wants.

Also Read: Why Enterprise Companies are Shifting to IaaS for hiring top talent

Today’s tech is obsolete by tomorrow 

The reason why software development has become one of the pillars of the modern world is that it has developed at a rapid pace. The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is a great example of this, as ChatGPT has become widely used. So, in the long run, the rapid pace of development in the software world has now become a double-edged sword as software developers have to continuously learn and upskill themselves if they are to remain relevant,

This also proves challenging for recruiters, who have to constantly upskill themselves so they have the knowledge to assess software developers on a technical level. Here’s a table that shows the traditional tools that were used to perform a task and their new-age replacements.

Area	Traditional Tool(s)	New / Emerging Tool(s)
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)	Terraform	Pulumi, Crossplane
Containers	Docker	Podman, BuildKit
Container Orchestration	Kubernetes	K3s, OpenShift, Nomad
CI/CD Pipelines	Jenkins	GitHub Actions, Argo CD
Monitoring	Nagios, Zabbix	Prometheus, Grafana, Loki
Observability	ELK Stack	OpenTelemetry, Datadog
Secrets Management	Vault	Doppler, SOPS

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Skills are hard to quantify 

There is nothing in software development as good or bad code; if a code works, it’s fine, no matter if the software developer does not really know how it works. For example, a product can be built on code in ten different ways. However, one of the codes might require less maintenance and is easy to build on future updates. So, while all codes are correct, some also offer other advantages over others. However, all this cannot be evaluated in an interview, even if they are conducted in multiple rounds,

Software development is more about problem solving, abstraction, and critical thinking. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the world of software development evolves at such a rapid pace that a code that works well today might become obsolete after six months. Context is also an important part of coding. For example, a company requiring urgent work would just want a code that works irrespective of whether it is easy to maintain.

Also Read: LinkedIn Candidate Sourcing: Best Strategies for Hiring Success

Requires good soft skills 

Software development is not just a role, but it is also a critical juncture between DevOps, product managers, quality assessments, and clients. Thai candidates working in this role must be good in their core skills and possess communication and collaboration skills. For example, after writing the code, a good software developer forwards it to a tester who will read the code and debut it (if needed). Here, the software developer has to communicate effectively the context and the vision of the code.

Communication skills are also mandatory. Software is built in teams and is sometimes cross-functional. For all of it to function smoothly, there needs to be a clear feedback loop where every stakeholder is informed about the decisions and changes that are being made in the code.

Also Read: Interview Outsourcing: How to Maximize ROI and Hire Smarter with Tech

How to create a guide to assess Software Developers 

Now that the challenges related to hiring software developers have been established let’s look at a guide on how to assess software developers during an interview. 

Define your needs 

When hiring a software developer, companies need to consider several factors, such as tools, experience, responsibilities, and the pay scale they will receive at their job. So let’s, let’s examine all these point by point.

• Project Scope: This relates to the basic role for which the company is hiring. For example, are you looking for a front-end developer, a back-end developer, or a full-stack developer who can do it all?
• Tech Stack: The tech stack refers to the technologies used to develop application tools. It includes Software, frameworks, programming languages (JavaScript + React, Python + Django), tools, and services used to create, manage, and maintain any application.
• Seniority Level: Companies may require a senior software developer if they are hiring for a role that requires experience and good soft skills, while a company that only requires rudimentary software skills might just want a newbie on the job.
• Soft Skills refer to skills that are not related to one’s core work. These include communication, collaboration, leadership, and conflict resolution.

Also Read: What Candidates Can Expect from an Interview as a Service (IaaS)

Hard Skills Assessment

The first step in assessing a software developer is to check their hard skills, i.e., technical knowledge. This includes things such as coding, knowledge of the company’s systems, cloud computing, DevOps, server hosting, architecture, and Information Technology infrastructure.

• Languages & Frameworks: This refers to the knowledge of the language and frameworks required for different tasks. So, a front-end developer should be well-versed in languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and libraries (React, Angular, Vue.js)
• Computer Science Fundamentals are the building blocks of software development. This includes understanding data structures, algorithms, memory management, multithreading, and databases.  
• System Design: This part refers to the software’s scalability, reliability, and maintenance. It is divided into two parts: High-Level Design (related to architecture) and Low-Level Design (Class structures, APIs, data models).

Also Read: Recruitment agency vs RPO: What is better for hiring?

For assessing hard skills, technical interviews should include:

• Live coding based on simulated problems can be done using online platforms such as HackerRank, Codility, CodeSignal, LeetCode, and DevSkiller. Recruiters should see for things such as correctness, time, speed, and use of the right data structures.
• Code review exercises are used to point out errors in pre-written code. Even if the code is correct, candidates should be asked to suggest ways to improve it.

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Soft Skills Evaluation

After the technical interview, it is now time to assess the soft skills of an interviewer. The reason for evaluating soft skills is that the job of a software developer involves working with several other stakeholders involved in the production of the Software. The soft skills that must be evaluated are:

• Communication: Candidates must be good in both verbal and non-verbal communication. This involves ensuring that the complex codes being written are explained to different audiences (users, clients, etc.). Furthermore, review of written samples such as email and GitHub).
• Teamwork: A major part of software development involves working with different people who may not possess the same technical knowledge as them. This includes designers, product managers, quality assessments, testers, and system administrators. A good software developer should also be open to feedback, making the process more efficient.
• Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence means the ability to self-regulate others’ emotions, show empathy to others, and resolve conflicts when they do arise.

Also Read: Best Interview as a service platforms in 2025

A great way to assess soft skills is by using different forms of interviews, such as

Method	What It Reveals
Behavioral Interviews	Past experiences, decision-making style
Situational Interviews	Reactions to hypothetical challenges
Pair Programming	Collaboration, communication, flexibility
Peer Interviews	Team fit and working style

Also Read: What is Salary History and why do companies ask for it?

Cultural Fit

Cultural fitr can be considered an extension of soft skills, in which behaviors, beliefs, and working styles are analyzed. Every company has a certain culture, which is its core principles. This relates to things such as integrity, transparency, innovation, or inclusion.

Recent research has shown that hiring candidates who fit their culture values creates an environment where every employee is motivated to perform at their best.

An example of this can be seen in the table below.

Attribute	Signs of Alignment
Team Orientation	Shares credit, helps others, collaborative
Ownership	Takes initiative, follows through
Growth Mindset	Open to feedback, learns continuously
Communication Style	Transparent, respectful, async-friendly
Diversity & Inclusion	Respects differing perspectives
Product Passion	Cares about users, product quality
Work Ethic	Disciplined, focused, delivers on time
Ethics & Integrity	Honest, admits mistakes, builds trust

Also Read: What are pros and cons of Emotional Intelligence in hiring?

Scoring & Feedback System

Hiring has never been as complex as it is today, as every company wants the perfect candidate. This requires a sound scoring and feedback system that ensures fairness, consistency, and clear decision-making across interviews and interviewers. We must understand that evaluating soft skills is challenging as they are difficult to quantify.

The components of a good scoring system are as follows:

Skills-Based Assessments 

Skill Area	Rating Scale	What It Measures
Coding Skills	1–5	Logic, syntax, problem-solving
System Design	1–5	Scalability, trade-offs, architecture
Communication	1–5	Clarity, listening, tone
Culture Fit	1–5	Alignment with values and work style
Ownership	1–5	Accountability, follow-through

Behavioral Assessments 

Score	Description
1	Constantly stops while communicating, fails to put his point across
2	Is fluent in communications but but fails to get his point across
3	Is good in communication, and active listening but is not great at collaboration and teamwork
4	Communicates clearly and listens actively
5	Communicates with clarity, empathy, and adjusts to the audience

Structured Interviews

Recently, companies have started to use structured interviews as a way to make interviews better and devoid of bias. The methodology of structured interviews is simple: a question set is created that contains the same questions. This is followed so that every candidate is asked the same questions. Doing so, reduces the chance of bias creeping into the interview.

One of the best ways to conduct structured interviews and in extension AI assisted hiring is using Interview as a  Service (IaaS) tools. These tools provide end-to-end hiring solutions for companies looking to take their hiring game to the next level.

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One such tool is BarRaiser. With our intelligent hiring platforms, recruiters can now make clear, concise, and efficient interview plans. The key to this is our AI Interview Copilot helps recruiters create structured interviews with the relevant questions. To create a questionnaire, a recruiter has to simply put in a prompt on the role, the number of years required for the role, the duration of the Interview, and the parts in which the interviewer should be divided. So, the process that used to take hours earlier can now be done in just seconds.

During the Interview, our bot records and transcribes the entire conversation, which helps in post-interview grading. The bot is also programmed to detect discriminatory language if it is used. The use of a structured interview format also helps ensure all the candidates are judged on the same metric, thereby avoiding bias.

After the interview, the bot asks the recruiters to create a detailed report on the candidate. The bot also creates another report on the interviewer’s conduct, which is shared with the hiring manager and other stakeholders of the recruitment process.

For companies who do not have the manpower to operate the tool, we provide Interview as a Service where we will take over the entire interview process. We have a pool of over 1500 expert interviewers rigorously trained on our tool that enhances interviews across the world. We have a conversion rate of over 70 per cent within two weeks from application to hire. We have amassed a rating of over 4.5 by more than 40,000 candidates. So, what are you waiting for? Use BarRaiser and watch your hiring game go to the next level.