Live coding challenges aren’t always fun, but they’re one of the most valuable ways to evaluate whether a candidate is a good fit for a software engineering role. Typically, the candidate completes an unfinished application until it passes a predefined set of tests and works as intended — a practical, hands-on skills assessment rather than a theoretical one.
During the challenge, candidates are usually observed by one or more experienced engineers from the hiring company. This matters: it reveals not just technical ability, but also how a candidate communicates and solves problems under pressure.
The challenge should match the candidate’s background, particularly what’s on their CV. If someone claims ten years of JavaScript experience, I expect that to show in how they perform.
Nobody can memorize an entire programming language, and candidates shouldn’t feel they need to know everything or stay perfectly composed throughout. If they get stuck, I’d rather they ask questions — that shows confidence, self-awareness, and honesty, not weakness.
I expect candidates to stay engaged: asking questions, thinking out loud, and talking through their approach as they work toward a solution. A solid grasp of core programming concepts — control flow, variables, operators, and expressions — is expected too.
Having sat on both sides of the table, I’ve found the best sessions are the ones with real back-and-forth, even a bit of laughter along the way.
A live coding challenge works best when both sides approach it with honesty and empathy: it’s on the candidate to be open about what they know and don’t, and on the interviewer to make the process feel safe rather than adversarial.
If the challenge feels daunting, the problem is often not the format itself, but the atmosphere around it. And if that’s the case — maybe you don’t want to work there after all.