As part of the application/screening process, I was recently asked by the CTO of a startup, to build a feature as a part of of a 4 hour technical/coding challenge. His words were, "The challenge is setup to give you a sense for the types of problems we face and to give you a sense for how we work here at [company_name]. You will be asked to build a single standalone feature." I will be allowed to use whatever programming language and IDE that I want (which makes me think that the challenge will address fundamentals as opposed to specifics).<p>I'm a bit on edge as all coding challenges I've done previously have been 1 - 2 hrs (max), and have _never_ involved me 'building a standalone feature'.<p>Any tips? Advice? All would be appreciated.
My first thought was that I wouldn't do it at this point in my career.<p>Then after thinking about it - especially if they will actually pay you a token amount for it - meaning it's not exploitive - I might do it just as an interesting challenge.<p>I once took a coding test for a job after I already accepted an offer somewhere else just out of curiosity. It helped me know where my weaknesses are.
Some tips:<p>- Don't pick now to use a weird language. Use whatever you are most confident with.<p>- Get it working, then do conscientious things (add tests, add documentation).<p>- Clarify as much as possible up front what they want from you.<p>Good luck!
Have you got info what you'll going to build? Can you prepare a starter project to hit the ground running?<p>If you have to start from scratch, having built (and documented) a working example helps greatly to get going quickly.<p>Last, don't forget to take care of yourself, hydrate, bring some food, painkillers, earplugs and so on. Situations like those are stressful enough, easy to rack up a migraine due to dehydration.<p>Good luck!