With years spent in HR trenches, Ashmita is passionate about what makes organizations tick—people. Their writing dives deep into behavioral interviews, talent strategy, and employee experience.
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We are excited to announce that HackerEarth has integrated with yet another ATS—Jobvite—to help recruiters get the best of HackerEarth Assessment. It is a comprehensive ATS that accelerates recruitment efforts with an easy-to-use interface.
HackerEarth and Jobvite: Benefits of the integration
Jobvite helps HackerEarth reach out, follow up, and maintain a connection with candidates at each step of the hiring process. Additionally, it helps recruiters and hiring managers advertise jobs, manage the recruiting process, and much more. Ready to learn how Jobvite improves the speed and quality of your talent acquisition? Let’s get started!
When integrated, you can:
Create any type of job requisition to fit your needs
You can create and add any type of job requisition to fit your business needs by tailoring attributes such as posting type, location, custom workflow, and more. You can also edit a requisition that you have created, as and when required.
Track job openings and prospective candidates
After you create a requisition, Jobvite automatically posts your job openings on the web. It allows recruiters and hiring managers to track a company's job openings as well as the candidates who apply to the company’s open positions.
Screen prospects quickly
The recruiter CRM organizes all your lead generation and sourcing results in one place. Additionally, the screening and ranking tools in Jobvite help recruiters identify the most qualified talent in a jiffy.
Map multiple HackerEarth tests to job requisition
After a new requisition is added on the Jobvite platform, you can map a test to it via the recruiter API ID. You can create and add multiple tests and invite candidates to fill a job position (there is no upper limit on the number of candidates that you can test at a time). All this can be done directly from Jobvite’s interface.
Learn more about setting up assessments in Jobvite here.
View detailed candidate reports in the workflow setup
Hiring managers love having all candidate information saved in a single, easy-to-view record, while candidates are impressed by fast and informative responses from their potential employer. After candidates have completed the test, you can view their scores and other performance data in their Jobvite profile, making the selection process hassle-free. Additionally, if a candidate is shortlisted or rejected, the status is updated automatically in both Jobvite and HackerEarth platforms.
Jobvite has intelligence and automation built right in, making it efficient and easy to use for both recruiters and hiring managers. Try the Jobvite integration with HackerEarth and let us know how it works for you. If you need any help using this feature, write to us at support@hackerearth.com. If you’re new to HackerEarth and want to create accurate skill-based developer assessments, sign up for a 14-day free trial.
This article was updated on 23rd March 2023.If you are a recruiter or hiring manager in the technical recruitment space and are wondering why mostly, men (or mostly, women) are applying for your organization’s open positions, here’s a hint for you. Look at the language used in your tech job descriptions. Chances are, the wording is more biased toward one gender than you realize.
Whether you believe it or not, language matters, and words have an impact on both genders in the workplace. These are the global numbers, and they don’t lie.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits recruiters from overtly soliciting a preferred gender in their job descriptions. However, research shows gender wording in tech job ads exists, which leads to gender inequality in the workplace.
Here is a 5-step guide to creating gender-fluid tech job descriptions:
Step 1: Be mindful of your word choice
When trying to appeal to both genders in technical recruitment, avoid using gender-coded words like “wizard”, “ninja”, or “guru” and replace them with open, to-the-point words like developers or programmers (for instance). Society tends to regard these words as masculine. While these gender-coded words may make the job sound exciting, they may also dissuade women from applying.Additionally, using words such as “powerful”, “confident”, and “strong-willed” in tech job descriptions attract both men and women. Words such as “aggressive” and “pressured” discourage both genders from applying.There are various tools available today that help recruiters and hiring managers to analyze their job descriptions. These tools let them make improvements to make the language more appealing to all candidates.Textio claims that recruiters can reach a wider pool of candidates and fill jobs faster based on the language they use in their job descriptions. Applied is a tool that informs you of gender codes within your job descriptions.
A gender-inclusive or gender-neutral pronoun is a pronoun that does not associate a gender with individuals who are being discussed. Unfortunately, certain languages, such as English, do not have gender-neutral pronouns available.In many instances, people use “he/his” in tech job descriptions when referring to candidates in the third person. Additionally, the dichotomy of “she and he” in the English language does not leave room for other gender identities, such as transgender and genderqueer communities.Hence, when describing the tasks of the candidate in job descriptions, use “they” or “you.” For instance, “As a front-end engineer at HackerEarth, you will be responsible for collaborating with product designers, product managers, and backend engineers to deliver compelling user-facing products.”
Removing pronouns means you’re inclusive of all potential candidates. It allows you to have access to a larger pool of applicants and increase your chances of hiring the ideal person.
Listing down additional employee benefits in your tech job descriptions can benefit your organization in bringing a diverse set of candidates and proving your commitment to inclusion.
For example, research shows that women tend to actively seek out positions that describe an adaptable workplace culture. Positions that promoted flexible working, working from home, and additional medical benefits.Men tend to look for salary, annual leaves, and medical/dental coverage.You don’t have to include every benefit. However, mentioning a few will show candidates the great work your company is doing to boost diversity and inclusion.Recommended read: What’s wrong with today’s tech job descriptions?
Step 4: Present your values and make them shine
A great way to conclude your tech job description is by providing a short overview of your company. This section is also an excellent place to describe your culture and how you promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.Share your organization’s values, mission statement, cultural philosophy, and a link to your non-discrimination policy to attract a diverse set of applicants.Recommended read: What Leadership Means To Us At HackerEarth
Step 5: Know the difference between “must-haves” and “nice to haves”
Research shows that men will apply for a job role if they meet 60% of the requirements while women are unlikely to apply for a job role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Hence, identify skills that are must-haves versus nice to have, and eliminate the latter.Finding the optimal length for the job requirements section of your posting is tricky. Tech job descriptions in the range of 300 to 700 words are ideal.Only when you have very specific skills/content required for the position, you’re advised to write longer tech job descriptions.
Why gender-fluid job descriptions matter
Gender-fluid job descriptions play a pivotal role in shaping a company's hiring process. These descriptions are vital for several reasons:
Promoting Diversity and Inclusion: Gender-fluid job descriptions ensure that candidates are not deterred by gender-specific language. This inclusivity attracts a broader spectrum of talent, encouraging applications from all genders, and helps in building a diverse workplace.
Broadening the talent pool: By avoiding gender-biased language, companies do not inadvertently alienate potential candidates. This approach results in a wider pool of applicants, increasing the chances of finding the best talent.
Reflecting company values: Using gender-fluid language in job descriptions signals to candidates that the company values diversity and inclusivity. This can enhance the employer's brand and reputation in the job market.
Legal compliance: In many regions, anti-discrimination laws require job descriptions to be non-discriminatory. Gender-fluid descriptions help in complying with these legal requirements, reducing the risk of legal repercussions.
Enhancing employer branding: Companies that use gender-neutral language are often seen as progressive and forward-thinking. This can be a significant factor in attracting young, dynamic professionals who prioritize inclusivity.
Mitigating unconscious bias: Gender-fluid job descriptions can reduce unconscious bias in the recruitment process, leading to fairer and more equitable hiring practices.
Adapting to societal changes: As societal norms evolve, there is a growing expectation for workplaces to be inclusive. Gender-fluid job descriptions are a step towards meeting these evolving societal standards.
Gender-fluid job descriptions are not just about using neutral language; they are about creating an open, inclusive environment that welcomes all individuals. This approach benefits not just the potential employees but also the company by ensuring a diverse, talented, and dynamic workforce.
Giveaway: [Free] checklist to write gender-neutral tech job descriptions
There you have it—our 5-step guide to creating gender-fluid or gender-inclusive tech job descriptions. To take your job descriptions to the next level, download your copy of the checklist!
Today, diversity and inclusion is one of the biggest challenges facing the tech industry. The tech world has been talking about D&I for decades. There are books, podcasts, panels at conferences, and so much more dedicated to the topic.
Yet, the numbers are still quite discouraging. According to studies, only 20 to 25% of entry-level technical jobs are filled by women.
The adverse effects of technology bias are already being seen. Research shows that most facial recognition software can identify white faces quickly, but can’t consistently identify people with other skin tones. This is because those algorithms are trained on data that features primarily white faces.
Companies worldwide are looking to tackle the issue of diversity hiring in tech, but very few have made strides in the right direction. Hence, we have handpicked the following top 4 lessons from global companies to help you promote a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Lesson 1: Build products with everyone and for everyone
Organization in focus: Google
“When communities are underrepresented in our workforce, they can be underserved by our products. Business and product inclusion is the intentional practice of designing products and services for a diverse range of consumers and communities by better understanding their unique needs. The goal is a better user experience and accelerated business growth.” —Google diversity annual report 2019
Diversity and inclusion are business imperatives for Google. The organization believes that D&I improves outcomes for its employees, products, and users. Here are a few D&I lessons that we can learn from the world’s most renowned multinational technology company.
Google offers inclusive design and engineering training as part of its onboarding curriculum for new tech hires on its New York and Mountain View campuses. All employees of Google residing anywhere in the world can participate in it.
Google works with external partners to improve its products for everyone. For example, as part of the Grow with Google program, Digital Coaches at Google host workshops, working with women- and minority-owned businesses that are part of Google’s Supplier Diversity program. The organization collects user feedback from communities to build products with inclusion in mind. Additionally, Google spent $400 million on businesses owned by people from underrepresented groups in 2018.
Google offers online crowdsourcing platforms to encourage anyone and anywhere to help improve the inclusivity of the organization’s products. For instance, Project Respect helps create more inclusive AI algorithms in line with Google’s AI Principles. Also, at Accelerate with Google, the organization “open sources” research, best practices, and guidance on inclusive design. This brings an inclusive lens to the design process for all its products, making the organization user-centric.
Lesson 2: Use empathy to lead innovation
Organization in focus: Microsoft
“Technology can empower people to achieve more, help strengthen education opportunities, and make the workplace more inviting and inclusive for people with disabilities. And with more than one billion people with disabilities in the world, Microsoft believes accessibility and inclusion are essential to delivering on our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”—Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft.
Microsoft believes that diverse and inclusive companies are not only more profitable and innovative but also fair well in retaining top talent who can meet the requirements of customers from a wide range of communities. The better organizations represent global diversity internally, the more prepared they are to innovate everywhere, for everyone. Here are a few products that Microsoft built to promote a diverse and inclusive environment, not just internally but around the globe.
Microsoft holds its annual internal hackathon every year. The event invites and encourages employees at Microsoft to work on pet or experimental projects and present them to their colleagues for feedback. In 2016, a small crew of designers built the first prototype for the Xbox Adaptive Controller. The aim was to build a gamepad for people with limited mobility. That core team continued to work on the project and launched the Xbox Adaptive Controller in 2019. The game controller has inspired a number of people to build hardware and software features that let gamers with physical disabilities play the games they love.
Blur was developed by Swetha Machanavajhala, a software engineer at Microsoft who has been deaf since birth. Blur is a feature within Microsoft Teams and Skype that obscures the background in video chats. The technology was borne out of Swetha’s frustration during video chats with her parents in India, when bright lights behind them made it hard for her to read their lips. Also, the background-blurring feature turned out to be useful for privacy reasons as well, helping to hide curious café customers during job interviews or messy offices during video conference calls.
The Seeing AI app developed by Microsoft reads documents and menus, identifies currency, and recognizes people for users with disabilities. It is also useful for sighted people who need to extend their field of vision in challenging environments.
Lesson 3: Empower diverse entrepreneurs
Organization in focus: Amazon
“Diverse and inclusive teams have a positive impact on our products and services, and help us better serve customers, selling partners, content creators, employees, and community stakeholders from every background. We are constantly learning and iterating, whether through central programs or work within our business teams, through programs that are local, regional, and global.”—Amazon
Amazon’s mission is to be the world’s most customer-centric organization, with diversity and inclusion being the center of it all. Amazon enables its creators, builders, and sellers from around the globe to follow their passion and find their best future, without extensive capital or networks. Here’s how Amazon helps technologists, entrepreneurs, and authors from around the world through its products and services:
Through We Power Tech , Amazon programs with partners with over 70 organizations around the globe. The aim is to provide access to AWS credits and learning modules and support the underrepresented communities in tech. We Power Tech organizes workshops and events to support founders and entrepreneurs who are people of color, women, people with disabilities, or from the LGBTQ community.
The Amazon Business credentialing program enables veteran-owned, women-owned, minority-owned, and LGBTQ-owned small businesses to promote their products. Customers can shop at storefronts that support women-owned businesses, and the Amazon Saheli Store that displays products built by women supported by NGOs in India.
With publishing options in 40 languages, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) enables more than one million authors to publish their books globally. To encourage more people from different ethnic backgrounds to access Amazon’s services for authors and content creators, the organization promotes content creation tools at events like the AfroTech and the Congressional Black Caucus.
Amazon is intentionally incorporating content representing a variety of communities on its platforms. For instance, for Pride 2018, AMazon featured more than 60 official feature films from the Outfest LGBTQ film festivals on Prime Video. In 2018, Amazon content was awarded the ReFrame TV stamp for gender parity.
Lesson 4: Embed diversity with smart HR analytics
Organization in focus: SAP
“A rich and diverse ecosystem drives innovation and allows us to better serve our customers. We will leverage technology for inclusion, ensure our tools are accessible, and build a diverse and inclusive tech ecosystem across the entire supply chain of supplier diversity to consumer experience.”—SAP
SAP measures its progress in the areas of supplier diversity statistics, management position data for underrepresented minorities and women, and attrition and retention rates by using technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT). Here’s how SAP leverages technology to build a diverse and inclusive workforce:
SAP uses the Job Analyzer to integrate D&I considerations into key talent management decisions. The tool helps managers and recruiters to make gender-fluid job descriptions. This results in a richer, expanded candidate pool, which, in turn, helps business leaders to reach the most qualified candidates for every position.
The SAP SuccessFactors Calibration tool helps managers evaluate the performance management process without bias. Instead of potentially being swayed by unconscious bias when making a decision about employees because of their photo, the tool replaces the photo with a generic icon.
Data analysis capabilities within the SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics solution helps SAP highlight areas where D&I targets are not being met. The organization can visualize and forecast D&I trends and give executives a greater insight into its D&I efforts.
What HackerEarth does to promote a diverse and inclusive workforce
At HackerEarth, we do not treat diversity and inclusion as a separate to-do list. It is imbibed in everything we do, starting from hiring people with diverse skill sets or having someone from the LGBTQ+ community as a BU head. Not only that—we encourage all employees to speak out and challenge any out-of-date processes or practices. We hire based on skills and not pedigree and transparency is at the forefront of every managerial decision made. Additionally, our platform helps recruiters and hiring managers conduct fair technical assessments by cutting bias out of the process. We enable them to assess candidates solely on their programming abilities. We reduce bias even further by masking candidate information and evaluating them on the one thing that matters—their coding skills. Since our inception, we have implemented more structure, purpose, and impact around these efforts to foster meaningful and valuable employee engagement experiences.
If you care about diversity, we’d love to entertain a conversation. Contact us to learn more about how you can jumpstart your team’s diversity by leveraging our platform. Our email is always open: support@hackerearth.com
The benefits of honing technical skills go far beyond the Information Technology industry. Strong tech skills are essential in today’s changing world, and if your employees consistently and proactively enhance their IT skills, you will help them improve both personally and professionally. This, in turn, will help your business grow.
Yes, it may feel overwhelming. However, with the right attitude and flexibility of mind, it can also be a tremendous opportunity for your employees to learn and grow. Here are some of the hottest tech skills (a mix of programming languages, tools, and frameworks; in random order) to hire which will help you thrive in the workplace of tomorrow.
1. JavaScript
JavaScript has been the fastest-growing and the most sought-after programming language for years. It is considered as one of the smartest choices for building interactive web interfaces as all modern browsers support JavaScript.
The Stack Overflow developer survey results show that about 69.7% of 90,000 professional developers stated JavaScript is the most commonly used programming language. The same survey reveals that JavaScript is one of the most desired languages. This means that 17.8% of respondents have not yet used it but want to learn it.
The language is at the heart of several prominent tech companies, such as Netflix, PayPal, Groupon, LinkedIn, and Walmart. Additionally, studies reveal that JavaScript is among the most in-demand programming language used in the top privately-held startups valued at over $1 billion in the US. Hence, JavaScript will remain one of the hottest tech skills and it is unlikely that it will go off the grid in the near future.
Common job roles requiring JavaScript
Some of the common job roles requiring JavaScript as a skill are:
Released in 1991 and created by Guido van Rossum, Python was and is still extremely relevant for all developers to learn and grow. It is interactive, dynamic, versatile, and remains one of the most relevant languages.
Also, it is one of the most popular programming languages used by the top 25 unicorn companies in the US.
It is an all-time favorite of beginners and experienced developers alike, mainly for its ease of use and simple syntax. Right from programming projects such as data mining and Machine Learning, Python is the most favored programming language.
Some of the common job roles requiring Python as a skill are:
Data scientists
Data analyst
Software engineer
Machine Learning engineer
Research analyst
Python developer
3. Java
It is no surprise to see Java as one of the hottest tech skills. Introduced in 1991 by James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton, it is a robust, general-purpose programming language that is object-oriented and class-based. It was designed in such a way that it is easy to use, write, compile, debug, and learn, and have as few implementation dependencies as possible.
Studies reveal that Java is one of the most popular programming languages used by developers.
This can be attributed to the fact that Java is widely used in industries such as financial services, Big Data, stock market, banking, retail, and Android. It is present everywhere! Whichever domain a developer works in, he/she will surely come across Java Programming.
An article by the Dev Community speaks about how Java is unarguably one of the most popular programming languages in the world today and how tech giants are using the language to build large portions of their infrastructure and backend services.
Some of the common job roles requiring Java as a skill are:
Java developers
Java architects
Backend developers
Fullstack developers
Conduct accurate coding assessments to hire the right developers. Request a demo.
4. Rust
For the fourth year in a row, Rust has been voted as the most loved programming language in a StackOverflow report, followed by Python. This meant that more developers want to continue working with Rust than other languages.
Also, as shown by Google Trends, Rust has been gaining tremendous popularity over the years and its adoption is expected to grow.
Tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have invested in Rust as a long term system programming language because it is expected to replace a lot of C and C++ development. In fact, PyPl has ranked Rust 18th in the Popularity of Programming Language Index, with an upward trend.
It makes a little more sense when you find out that the language was created at Mozilla, giving web developers a chance to write code that’s more performant than Ruby, PHP, JavaScript, or Python.
Common job roles requiring Rust
Some of the common jobs requiring Rust as a tech skill are:
Backend developers
Embedded system engineers
Network engineers
5. ReactJS
Released in 2013, ReactJS is essentially a front-end library created by Facebook for building user interfaces. It serves as an excellent tool for the development of full-scale, dynamic applications.
As per a Stack Overflow report, ReactJS is the most wanted and most loved web framework.
A great performance benefit of ReactJS is its ability to update virtual DOM. As Virtual DOM is rendered from the server-side as well as the client-side, it offers a high-performance rendering of complex user interfaces. This is why ReactJS is fast. Other than Facebook and Instagram, ReactJS is adopted by the BBC, Netflix, and PayPal.
Common job roles requiring ReactJS
Some of the common job roles requiring ReactJS as a skill are:
Docker is a tool that creates, deploys, and runs applications within containers.
Containers store up code and all its dependencies so that an application runs fast and reliably on any other Linux machine. The prevalence of Docker in the job market is incredible. In a Stack Overflow survey, developers ranked Docker number 2 in the “Most Loved Platform” category and number 1 in the “Most Wanted Platform” category.
With cloud and Docker becoming significantly linked every day, the demand is only expected to grow. Therefore, if your employees want a wonderful future in DevOps, they need to have a strong understanding of Docker tools.
Common job roles requiring Docker
Some of the common job roles requiring Docker as a skill are:
Software developers
Backend engineers
DevOps engineers
Python developers
Site reliability engineers
Database administrators
7. NumPy and Pandas
There would be no Data Science in Python without NumPy and Pandas (this is also one of the reasons why Python has become widely popular in Data Science.) As per GitHub, among the most popular public repositories labeled with topics like “Deep Learning,” “Natural Language Processing,” and “Machine Learning,” over half of them are built on NumPy. Pandas is a widely used tool, particularly in data munging and wrangling. It is available for everyone as an open-source, free-to-use project. Hence, NumPy and Pandas are expected to be in the race of tech skills to hire for.
Common job roles requiring NumPy and Pandas
Some of the common job roles requiring NumPy and Pandas as skills are:
Data scientists
Python developers
Machine Learning developers
Software engineers
Algorithm developers
Tech leads
8. Kotlin
Kotlin is a general-purpose programming language that effortlessly combines object-oriented and functional programming features within it. In a Stack Overflow report, Kotlin made its way into one of the most loved and most wanted programming languages.
Kotlin was designed to be interoperable with Java which makes Android development faster and enjoyable. Also, Kotlin addresses the major issues that surface in Java. Hence, several Java apps are rewritten in Kotlin. Brands like Pinterest and Coursera have already moved to Kotlin due to its strong tooling support. It receives a lot of interest from developers and companies alike. The job postings for Kotlin increased over 15X, from the second quarter of 2016 to the second quarter of 2018, and the trend is only expected to grow.
Hence, Kotlin is a hot tech skill that programmers and Android app developers should learn.
Common job roles requiring Kotlin
Some of the common job roles requiring Kotlin as a skill are:
Android developers (junior, mid, senior)
Kotlin developers
Software engineers—Android platform
9. Django
Django is one of the most versatile and popular Python web frameworks that encourages rapid development and pragmatic, clean design of web applications. This can be attributed to Django’s open-source nature—the community is constantly releasing new code and plug-ins to simplify the process and keep up with the demand. It grabbed eyeballs right from the start when it was positioned as Python’s answer to Rails.
Many Python development services, as well as major companies such as Spotify and YouTube, use Django. Developers describe it as “batteries included”, which means that it comes with a variety of third-party libraries.
Django’s user base is expected to grow as more developers embrace Python for emerging technologies such as Machine Learning and Big Data. It is ridiculously fast, reassuringly secure, and exceedingly scalable.
Note: We recommend using the latest version of Django, which is currently 3.0.2.
Common job roles requiring Django
Some of the common job roles requiring Django as a skill are:
Python-Django developers
Python software engineers
Full-stack Django developers
DevOps engineers
Frontend Django developers
Django software engineers
Summing up…
All developers have a thirst for learning new skills. However, knowing which skills are gaining popularity can ensure better career growth and help developers prioritize learning them first. Recruiters and developers can use the information shared in this post to make informed decisions in this matter.
As a recruiter, you need to keep yourself abreast of the above-mentioned skills to stay ahead of your competitors in hiring stellar talent.
Not sure about how to assess technical skills? HackerEarth provides accurate technical screening and helps you hire the best. Start your 14-day free trial today.
As October draws to an end, Halloween creeps upon us. Prepare to be spellbound with our delightfully dark but magical updates.
Want to know what's going on in the HackerEarth community? Find all the information you need to know, here.
What's inside? Halloween charms!
Get wicked with mock coding interviews: No tricks just treats
The HackerEarth platform uses AI to give you access to more than 2,500 questions used by Fortune 500 companies in several coding challenges and programming interviews.
These mock coding interviews questions are divided into three levels—easy, medium, and hard. Also, the platform generates reports to let you benchmark your programming skills and lets you take a test as many times as you want, with a new set of questions each time!.
The HackerEarth platform provides a real-time coding interview environment to test your coding skills in Java, Python, and C++.We provide an excellent opportunity for developers to become familiar with coding interview questions and formats. In the process, people can gain confidence by acquiring knowledge about their strengths and areas of improvement before an actual interview.
PEEK A BOO at last month’s coding challenges
At Hackerearth, we understand that every passionate programmer likes to showcase his/her programming skills and competing in a coding challenge is the best way to do so. Last month we conducted the following two coding contests.
CodeStar Contest #1
In association with the AlphaStar Academy, HackerEarth conducted the CodeStar Contest #1. This programming challenge was intended for high school and college students.
It was a 3-hour individual contest consisting of 8 problems that were roughly arranged from very easy to hard difficulty levels. The winners took home exciting cash prizes, an Xbox One S, and HackerEarth t-shirts.
Classify the Lunar Rock: HackerEarth Data Science Competition
HackerEarth joined hands with Dataquest and hosted a highly engaging and informative coding challenge—Classify the Lunar Rock:HackerEarth Data Science Competition.
Its aim was to help people improve their Deep Learning skills by competing and learning from fellow participants.
Broomsticks, cobwebs, and old witches’ brew, we’ve hosted fantastic webinars just for you!
HackerEarth has a deep-rooted love toward webinars. We have hosted a hundred of them to date. When webinars are good, they are helpful and useful. When they’re great, they’re transformative!
We recently conducted two such informative webinars.
Many software engineers who are preparing for technical interviews have an uninformed idea of what interviewers are looking for. Information on the Internet about ’coding problems’ and ’memorizing anything related to Computer Science’ often leads to frustration and burnout.
Jacob Zhang walked people through the mind of an interviewer in this webinar. He spoke of ways to use that thought process to improve one’s performance, come game day.
In this webinar, Harsh Goel spoke about a standard system design template that you can use to design backend systems. He also covered tips and pitfalls for system design interviews.
Don’t be afraid. The November spookmaster plan lies ahead.
Help pave the way for the future of coding at HackerEarth!
We are excited to announce the beginning of challenges:
November Easy—This is a series of HackerEarth’s beginner-level coding challenges that are hosted on the first weekend of every month. The purpose of this challenge is to help beginners hone their coding skills in a programming language of their choice. Easy is a rated contest and is open for everyone to participate.
Data Structures and Algorithm (DSA) coding contest—We have in store a one-of-a-kind, Data Structures and Algorithm coding contest where you can compete in a real-time interview environment and hone your skills.
If you are interested in creating problems for our challenges, do write to us to problem_setting@hackerearth.com.Get involved and code your way to glory!
When some people hear the word “hackathon,” a wave of intimidation spills over them.
Well, let me help you pitch the idea. Ahackathon, also known as a codefest, is typically a day-long coding competition where a bunch of software developers, computer programmers, designers, and others join hands to improve upon or build a new software program.
Hackathons maybe theme-based. However, the majority of hackathons gives developers and programmers free rein to be creative and build something awesome.
One can create a web app, a website, chrome extension, it’s an open environment!
Stating an exciting fact here—many popular features of Facebook such as the like button, Facebook timeline, chat, and video were all conceived during hackathon projects.
A hackathon is a place where you find diversified minds and ideas, all under one roof. You will eventually end up honing your existing skills and acquiring new ones in the process.
Acquire industry-specific job skills
Creating something from nothing is difficult. In fact, it may be one of the most challenging tasks. Ahackathonlets one acquire industry-specific job skills.
If you are new to programming, you will learn how to build a project from scratch, buff out the glitches, and present it to a panel of experts.
On the other hand, if you are already a coding professional, you have an opportunity to enhance your skills.
All-in-all, a hackathon is a win-win situation. It prepares you forworking in a fast-paced, industry-driven environment, and gives professional experience in tackling coding challenges.
Improve problem-solving skills
Want to stretch your problem-solving skills to the limit? Attend a hackathon! To get the job done, you will need to learn how to focus on what is important.
And no matter however pre-defined your ideas are before you attend, you will eventuallylearn to be flexible and adaptable in your approach.
Also, you will get the opportunity to literally drill down issues and understand them to their very core.
Learn teamwork
The importance of teamwork cannot be overstated. It is very, very important, especially in such events.
Hackathons encourage you to work with people that you do not often work with, which eventually leads to wonderful ideas.
You learn to partition tasks, share a codebase, and get along the process through good and bad as a team.
Also, “pair programming” is a common practice at hackathons. It involves finding someone of similar skill sets, and then taking turns building and advising on the project.
It offers considerable learning potential and teaches effective collaboration.
Work under pressure
Hackathons aim at developing something awesome within a limited time frame, infusing work pressure among participants and testing them beyond their limits.
You will definitely learn to complete tasks faster than what you’re generally used to.
Transform concepts into reality
The core concept of most hackathons is theability to turn concepts into deliverable actions or a working prototype. Hackathons are a great way to involve and understand every stage—from design to deployment—of a product.
The gap between ideation and execution is huge. For instance, when Uber brought the idea of helping customers find a ride via connectivity, many people said, “I had that same idea.”
Still, Uber made it happen in the best possible way. Similarly, there are several ideas that people think of, and a hackathon lets one execute ideas and create something mind-boggling!
If youwant to participate in a hackathon, you just need to know the genre, form a team (either at the event or with people you know), and hack away at a project!
Hackathons are a whirlwind! If you come in with a strategy, they can be a useful format for making significant progress in a short amount of time.
If you are new to hackathons, knowing where to begin with may be daunting.
Traditionally, hackathons come from identifying a problem and then considering different ways to solve it.
For instance, how can a new tool like an app builder or any app make life easier? To help you get there, here is a list of hackathons that HackerEarth has conducted to let you gain some insights.
How can hackathons help you?
Hackathons for product and API adoption
Studies show that hackathons seem to be the most effective method to acquire and engage developer talent for open APIs.
Hackathons give you the opportunity to put your product(API) in the hands of passionate developers and get them to use it. They give you valuable feedback on how your product can be improved.
Several companies have used hackathon to drive API adoption. Here are a few –
Amazon Alexa: Building voice-first experiences through the Alexa skills hackathon
Alexa, the voice service behind Amazon Echo, is changing how a consumer interacts with technology. With Alexa being able to pick up multiple roles—anything from a concierge or a sous chef to a fitness coach or a DJ — every time a new skill is added, theAlexa Skills hackathonwas aimed at building even more skills for Alexa to make it smarter.
The goal of the hackathon was to educate developers about Alexa. Amazon wanted to get them to experience building skills for Alexa for the first time.
IBM: Using Bluemix to develop apps on the Bluemix platform
IBM Bluemix is a cloud platform as a service (PaaS) developed by IBM. It supports several programming languages and services as well as integrated DevOps to build, run, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud.
TheIBM Bluemix hackathonwas a product building innovation campaign where participants could build web and mobile apps with Watson on IBM Bluemix.
Hackathons for branding
An employer branding hackathon is a highly targeted branding activity. It allows a company to let potential employees know what the company stands for, the challenging projects it works on, and communicates its values to them.
By conducting a targeted hackathon, you will be able to let the developer community know about your company and the technology stack you use. It also allows companies to build a talent pipeline. Here’s how HP Enterprise leveraged hackathons for employer branding-
HP Enterprise: When innovation acted as a brand driver
HPE is a brand synonymous with innovation. With over 80 years of world-class technology innovation and the famous “HP Way” of transforming great ideas into successful tech products, the company partnered with HackerEarth for its employer branding activities.
TheHPE Thinkathonwas a hackathon specifically for college students. With coding gaining more attention with each passing day, HP aimed to cultivate a culture of coding among students.
Hackathons for hiring
Hackathons are changing the way a traditional hiring process works. Hiring that involved multiple rounds of interviews in the past are quickly being replaced by hiring hackathons. Here’s how Accenture used a hackathon tohire better talent.
Accenture—Hiring coding enthusiasts through the Hack Diva challenge
The Accenture Hack Diva challenge was a women-centric programming challenge targeted at women students interested in technology to showcase their problem-solving skills and compete with their peers across the country.
The event aimed at bringing together some of the brightest engineering students and celebrating women who are passionate about technology.
Internal hackathons
Internal hackathons act as a playground for exploring possibilities. Accelerate innovation by bringing all the business stakeholders on a single platform to ideate, collaborate, build, and implement solutions to real-world challenges.
Benefits –
Collaborative innovation — Internal hackathons help foster collaboration across geographies
Accelerate customer innovation — Faster go to market for customer requirements
Drive engagement — A fun activity for your entire company
Adapt to disruption and stay ahead of competition
Hackathons to foster collaboration and boost employee engagement
The use of employee hackathons to solve organizational problems is on the rise. This fun event helps bring together the best brains from across your organization to solve pressing business challenges while having a good time.
Global talent advisers perfectly sum up what happens during a hackathon of this kind, “Employees who have participated in a hackathon love it because it is a highly engaging activity. They work with colleagues from other departments to brainstorm and design working prototypes. Employees feel that they are part of the solution. They have a sense of pride that they are contributing to the success of the company.”
Hackathons to solve customer challenges
Hackathons can be catalysts for organizations looking to accelerate innovation. You could use a hackathon to develop innovative yet practical solutions to support the customer experience.
The best part is you get a pipeline of hacks which can provide the highest value to customers in the shortest amount of time and you can work on accommodating them in your product road maps.
Hackathons to help you speed up product launches
Hackathons create an environment that creates an internal drive among your team to work together on new product features or improvements.
The best part is that since the entire team works towards this within a stipulated period of time, you have multiple solutions many of which are market-ready and can be directly implementable. This means you can easily accommodate them in your product road maps and releases.
Hackathons to create a culture of innovation
Innovation is critical to business success now more than ever. It is imperative for business leaders and entrepreneurs to make innovation their constant business priority.
Incorporating innovation into your company’s culture will help you create an environment that empowers.
Technology, University, Government, and Social hackathons
One of the best things you get out ofconducting a hackathonis the outcome. A hackathon is a great tool especially if you are looking for swift market-ready solutions.
And these solutions are applicable across a wide range of sectors—from technology hackathons to government and social hackathons and even university hackathons.
Technology hackathons
Hackathons are a great way of using cutting edge technologies to solve some pressing business challenges.
Some commonly used technologies include Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, AR/VR, etc and these have been used to solve problems on customer data management, identity management, and asset trading via hackathons.
Machine Learning hackathons
Organizations such as Unilever, Societe Generale, Future Group, and many others have leveraged the power of Machine Learning to build better businesses.
Being one of the largest FMCG companies in India, HUL ran a hackathon to understand consumer preferences in small retail stores in neighborhoods by capturing sales data through a point of sales system and leverage it with innovative Machine Learning (ML) and analytical models.
Societe Generale: Building predictive models from banking and financial data
This French banking and financial MNC wanted to put its financial data to better use by leveraging the power of the crowd for data analysis and building predictive models.
Future Group: Crowdsourcing digital solutions to master customer data management
Future Group is one of the largest retailers in India and through the Future Datathon, this organization used Machine Learning to understand customer behavior and buying needs better.
Blockchain hackathons
From traceable supply chains to permanent identity for refugees, blockchain is pioneering transparent and secure business processes.
Blockchain technology provides new infrastructure to build the next innovative applications beyond cryptocurrencies, driving profound, positive changes across businesses, communities, and society.
Many organizations have used blockchain hackathons to build impactful solutions and here are a few examples
Accenture: Leveraging Blockchain for social good
With the industry gearing toward an exciting phase in the evolution of blockchain-based solutions, Accenture has consciously worked toward leveraging ‘Blockchain for good’.
Regarded as one of the top 10 biggest blockchain companies, Accenture’s blockchain developers work at the heart of the blockchain technology landscape, working with multiple alliance partners— DAH, Ripple, R3, Microsoft, EEA, Hyperledger, etc.
University hackathons
Hackathons are important for growth because it allows students to apply creativity, learn technical skills, generate business ideas, work in a team, network with peers and professionals, and win some cool prizes.
Top universities across the world use hackathons to drive creativity and problem-solving capacity among students.
Government hackathons
Governments around the world are leveraging technology for better governance and hackathons are a great way to find solutions which can be readily implemented. A few examples are:
Smart Odisha hackathon — Make in Odisha Conclave 2018
The student community is an integral part of spearheading development projects, owing to its innovative and enthusiastic approach toward a problem.
To harness the talent of student communities, “Smart Odisha Hackathon” was organized by the Skill Development and Technical Education Department, Government of Odisha, in association with the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), Odisha. The idea behind this 36-hour long hackathon was to attract talent to identify innovative IT solutions for public service delivery and effective governance.
NITI Aayog—Pune Smart city hackathon
The challenge was to find insights and solutions for smarter ways to develop Pune.
The hackathon addressed important themes such as water management, solid waste management, safety, public health, and digital connectivity.
Bhopal smart city hackathon
This hackathon was organised by the Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited, in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Participants had to come up with technology solutions in this 48 hour hackathon to make Bhopal smarter.
Social hackathons
Hackathons can help you harness the creative power and skills of thousands of participants to bring you closer to realizing your organization’s social welfare goals.
Create working prototypes of solutions by utilizing developer communities, along with your participants, without having to build a team of your own.
Centro Fox: Creating technology solutions for social problems in less than 48 hours
Centro Fox is a Mexican organization which works toward creating compassionate leaders for a better world.
Founded by Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, the center consciously works toward training quality leaders dedicated to serving their community in Mexico and Latin America.
The talent hackathon at Centro Fox aimed to bring together participants from Mexico to work on solutions for creating a smart city.
Hackocracy: Crowdsourcing to build a better democracy
With the belief that technology-based solutions could streamline processes and revolutionize the lives of millions, well-known NGOs such as the Umang Foundation, Janaagraha, and the Nudge Foundation teamed up with HackerEarth to come up with digital solutions to handle real-world problems throughHackocracy— a hackathon to build a better democracy.
FAQs
Who can attend a hackathon
Hackathons are for everyone. YES! You read that right. Anyone with a knack in computer programming can attend a hackathon. One does not necessarily need to have programming experience. Organizers usually hold workshops throughout the event for people who are new to programming, helping individuals harness new skills and relationships.
How to prepare for a hackathon?
You’d like to try a hackathon? Great! We’ve put together a list of 5 things you can do to prep.
Do I need to pay any money to register for a hackathon?
No. You do not have to pay anything to anyone to register yourself for any Hackathon on HackerEarth.
How do I submit the prototypes/ideas created for the hackathon?
You have to develop the application on your local system and submit it on HackerEarth in tar/zip file format along with instructions to run the application and source code. Do we need to have the entire idea fully working?
The entire idea need not be fully implemented. However, the submission should be functional so that it can be reviewed by the judges.
Do I need to provide a demo for the product I have built?
If you want, you can submit a small presentation or video that demos your submission. However, it’s not mandatory and only good to have. In case you are one of the winners, you might be invited to demo your application at a physical event, details of which will be shared with sufficient advance notice.
How is the environment? Will the hackathon environment support any language? Will the organization provide any IDE and DB for us to work on ideas?
You have to develop the entire software application on your local system and submit it on HackerEarth in tar/zip file format along with instructions to run the application and source code.
Who owns my project and IP?
It can vary from hackathon to hackathon. The conditions of participation in a hackathon may include alternative arrangements, such as first-look rights, exclusive rights, or shared IP rights. Also, the finalists and winners are generally given prizes or sums of money – essentially in exchange for their ideas. In case of an internal hackathon where organizations conduct these events for their employees, all rights are owned by the company. It has the total ownership of inventions made by its employees. In case of an open or a public hackathon, the ownership rights are often open to dispute. In this case, the inventions are made by an unpaid third party — the hackathon participants.
But in any case, it’s essential to take a careful look at the conditions of participation. Be sure to double check with the organizer. If you are employed elsewhere, review the hackathon terms to see if your participation causes any conflict of business interest with your current employer.
How to win a hackathon?
It all boils down to 10 simple steps. HackerEarth provides an exhaustive list to help win hackathons. The steps are pretty broad on purpose – you can define them anyway you want.
