Tips to Identify and Remove Unintended Bias In the Assessment Process

If you are reading this article, you are probably looking to make your tech recruitment process more equitable and fair. Over the years, several developers have called out the unintended bias involved in the coding assessment process. It’s hard to accept the reality of inherent biases because it always exists unconsciously in the form of racism, ageism, and sexism.Sometimes, recruiters obscure the fact that they are prejudiced in their assessment practices. A lot of the time, these biases stem from a lack of awareness and can be stemmed easily. Here are a few tips that can help you, and your managers, conduct a bias-free assessment the next time.

How To Avoid Bias In Tech Assessments

Awareness of what's happening is crucial

The vital step to solve any issue is to know what's happening in the first place. The same applies to a biased assessment process. Try to analyze the assessment in detail by discussing it with your team. Understand how the assessment is prepared, starting with how it is conducted, and how the test results are evaluated. Look for signs of bias in each of these steps.Once you identify the root cause, see if you can conduct awareness campaigns in your company to help your staff learn more about unconscious bias in the assessment process. This will go a long way in establishing transparency in your team and motivate them to take corrective steps collectively.

Recommended read: Recruiters Vs Bias – Who’s Winning This War?

Keep an eye on the job descriptions

Job descriptions play an essential role in any assessment process irrespective of the domain. It is important to keep a close eye on them to nip bias in the bud. The job description should never be inclined towards a particular gender, race, or orientation. It should always be gender-neutral and promote a sense of inclusiveness and inclusivity.Moreover, if your job description looks like a laundry list of must-haves, then you stand to scare away a big chunk of interested candidates. This too is a manifestation of bias where recruiters think an ideal candidate is someone who checks an exhaustive list of boxes. There needs to be a clear demarcation between must-have skills, and good-to-have skills in the job description so that it allows room for a diverse set of developers to apply for the role.

Recommended read: A Checklist For Writing Job Postings That Actually Work

Conduct mock interviews

While there is no exact structured method to eliminate bias in the assessment process, mock interview ‘drills’ can be helpful. Biases often creep in because of stereotypes and short-sighted perspectives. As a manager, you can conduct mock interviews for your recruiters and take them through the motions of potential employees for a given role. If they are hiring more candidates of the same gender, race, or ethnicity, there could be a high chance that the assessment process at your organization is biased. Understanding how certain stereotypes can influence your team’s decisions can help you find the best measures to weed them out.

Make skill tests a must

Skill tests can be a great way to uncover biased assessment processes. Shortlist potential candidates and direct your team to send a skill test to candidates before hiring them. This helps assess the expertise of the interviewees. Ensure that the questions sent out are spontaneous or digitally generated to avoid potential malpractice.

Pay attention to ‘how’ you ask your questions

Pay attention to what your recruiters ask a candidate during the assessment process as these questions could trigger the candidate. For instance, the interviewer might decide to break the ice with a joke, which they find amusing. The candidate may find it off-color and racial. Comments about a candidate’s caste, sex, race, or color should not feature in any interviews. If a candidate has listed their preferred pronouns, then be considerate enough to address them in their chosen manner.While it is hard to always be politically correct, there can be directives laid out to ensure boundaries are not crossed.

The first impression can be the best impression, but not always

The first impression is always the best impression but it might not be true when hiring a candidate from an underprivileged background. An interviewer can be too quick to judge an interviewee based on a single interaction, without checking for a skill fit.As a manager, if you feel a recruiter is too quick to reject a candidate, you can always object and conduct another round of interviews.

Weigh the eligibility criteria

Unconscious bias in assessments makes recruiters choose a candidate based on a single quality while ignoring several other factors. For instance, a recruiter might choose a candidate just because they had a pleasant conversation with them over the phone. In such scenarios, communication skills overshadow other qualifications like the technical skill set that is expected, knowledge of programming languages, diligence, and discipline.This is where it is hard to notice one's own bias in the assessment process. The best way to avoid it is to let your recruiters be accountable for a weighted evaluation of the candidates, where equal importance is given to every aspect mentioned in the job description.

Equality is important

Always provide equal hiring opportunities across genders. Never decide the wage based on gender; conduct negotiations based on a candidate’s previous experience and last drawn salary. Remuneration can often be a point of contention in the workforce, so show your employees that you value them by being non-judgemental and fair when talking about money. This encourages them to perform at their best.Now that you know about the root causes of bias in the assessment process and the countermeasures you can take to eliminate them, let’s get to how HackerEarth can help you conduct unbiased assessments.

Here Is How You Can Conduct Fair Assessment Tests With HackerEarth

HackerEarth is an online platform that offers tools for remote hiring, onboarding, upskilling and engaging developers. With our platform's help, several companies have built advanced technical teams that empowered them to win accolades and respect in the IT industry.What makes HackerEarth different?

FaceCode platform to conduct real-time technical assessments
Comprehensive, convenient, and easy to deploy test framework
24*7 customer care support to answer all your queries
Unique assessments for university or remote hiring

Here Is How You Can Conduct Fair Assessment Tests With HackerEarth

With HackerEarth, you can -

Attract potential employees

The platform has an innovative assessment process and conducts various coding tests to attract potential talent and reward them. Many skilled coders and developers enroll in these tests and get rewarded. On HackerEarth, the more rewards a candidate earns from the platform, the higher their coding caliber. This provides companies with an easy way to hire the best talent.

Conduct screening tests and real-time coding interviews

Choose us as your assessment process partner and get instant access to thousands of technical assignments that can help you evaluate developers using advanced coding assessments. We conduct virtual coding interviews for candidates with the help of our unique real-time code editor. This can help you test the candidates' spontaneity and problem-solving skills.

Upskill your employees

When you choose us as your assessment partner, you will get to conduct timely assessment tests right after an employee joins your company. This can help leverage the technical skills of your employees faster as it speeds up onboarding them to new projects.

Engage with developers

We set the proper engagement path to entice tech talent globally using innovative assessment tests that are based on deep industry knowledge and experience.For more details on HackerEarth, get in touch with us. We are just a call, text, or mail away. Hope this blog has helped you to learn everything you need to eliminate bias during the assessment process. Stay tuned for our next blog.

Until then, Happy Coding!

Revolutionizing Mobile Talent Hiring: The HackerEarth Advantage

The demand for mobile applications is exploding, but finding and verifying developers with proven, real-world skills is more difficult than ever. Traditional assessment methods often fall short, failing to replicate the complexities of modern mobile development.

Introducing a New Era in Mobile Assessment

At HackerEarth, we're closing this critical gap with two groundbreaking features, seamlessly integrated into our Full Stack IDE:

Now, assess mobile developers in their true native environment. Our enhanced Full Stack questions now offer full support for both Java and Kotlin, the core languages powering the Android ecosystem. This allows you to evaluate candidates on authentic, real-world app development skills, moving beyond theoretical knowledge to practical application.

Say goodbye to setup drama and tool-switching. Candidates can now build, test, and debug Android and React Native applications directly within the browser-based IDE. This seamless, in-browser experience provides a true-to-life evaluation, saving valuable time for both candidates and your hiring team.

Assess the Skills That Truly Matter

With native Android support, your assessments can now delve into a candidate's ability to write clean, efficient, and functional code in the languages professional developers use daily. Kotlin's rapid adoption makes proficiency in it a key indicator of a forward-thinking candidate ready for modern mobile development.

Breakup of Mobile development skills ~95% of mobile app dev happens through Java and Kotlin — This chart illustrates the importance of assessing proficiency in both modern (Kotlin) and established (Java) codebases.

Streamlining Your Assessment Workflow

The integrated mobile emulator fundamentally transforms the assessment process. By eliminating the friction of fragmented toolchains and complex local setups, we enable a faster, more effective evaluation and a superior candidate experience.

Old Fragmented Way vs. The New, Integrated Way — Visualize the stark difference: Our streamlined workflow removes technical hurdles, allowing candidates to focus purely on demonstrating their coding and problem-solving abilities.

Quantifiable Impact on Hiring Success

A seamless and authentic assessment environment isn't just a convenience, it's a powerful catalyst for efficiency and better hiring outcomes. By removing technical barriers, candidates can focus entirely on demonstrating their skills, leading to faster submissions and higher-quality signals for your recruiters and hiring managers.

A Better Experience for Everyone

Our new features are meticulously designed to benefit the entire hiring ecosystem:

For Recruiters & Hiring Managers:

Accurately assess real-world development skills.
Gain deeper insights into candidate proficiency.
Hire with greater confidence and speed.
Reduce candidate drop-off from technical friction.

For Candidates:

Enjoy a seamless, efficient assessment experience.
No need to switch between different tools or manage complex setups.
Focus purely on showcasing skills, not environment configurations.
Work in a powerful, professional-grade IDE.

Unlock a New Era of Mobile Talent Assessment

Stop guessing and start hiring the best mobile developers with confidence. Explore how HackerEarth can transform your tech recruiting.

A New Era of Code

Vibe coding is a new method of using natural language prompts and AI tools to generate code. I have seen firsthand that this change makes software more accessible to everyone. In the past, being able to produce functional code was a strong advantage for developers. Today, when code is produced quickly through AI, the true value lies in designing, refining, and optimizing systems. Our role now goes beyond writing code; we must also ensure that our systems remain efficient and reliable.

From Machine Language to Natural Language

I recall the early days when every line of code was written manually. We progressed from machine language to high-level programming, and now we are beginning to interact with our tools using natural language. This development does not only increase speed but also changes how we approach problem solving. Product managers can now create working demos in hours instead of weeks, and founders have a clearer way of pitching their ideas with functional prototypes. It is important for us to rethink our role as developers and focus on architecture and system design rather than simply on typing c

The Promise and the Pitfalls

I have experienced both sides of vibe coding. In cases where the goal was to build a quick prototype or a simple internal tool, AI-generated code provided impressive results. Teams have been able to test new ideas and validate concepts much faster. However, when it comes to more complex systems that require careful planning and attention to detail, the output from AI can be problematic. I have seen situations where AI produces large volumes of code that become difficult to manage without significant human intervention.

AI-powered coding tools like GitHub Copilot and AWS’s Q Developer have demonstrated significant productivity gains. For instance, at the National Australia Bank, it’s reported that half of the production code is generated by Q Developer, allowing developers to focus on higher-level problem-solving . Similarly, platforms like Lovable enable non-coders to build viable tech businesses using natural language prompts, contributing to a shift where AI-generated code reduces the need for large engineering teams. However, there are challenges. AI-generated code can sometimes be verbose or lack the architectural discipline required for complex systems. While AI can rapidly produce prototypes or simple utilities, building large-scale systems still necessitates experienced engineers to refine and optimize the code.

The Economic Impact

The democratization of code generation is altering the economic landscape of software development. As AI tools become more prevalent, the value of average coding skills may diminish, potentially affecting salaries for entry-level positions. Conversely, developers who excel in system design, architecture, and optimization are likely to see increased demand and compensation.
Seizing the Opportunity

Vibe coding is most beneficial in areas such as rapid prototyping and building simple applications or internal tools. It frees up valuable time that we can then invest in higher-level tasks such as system architecture, security, and user experience. When used in the right context, AI becomes a helpful partner that accelerates the development process without replacing the need for skilled engineers.

This is revolutionizing our craft, much like the shift from machine language to assembly to high-level languages did in the past. AI can churn out code at lightning speed, but remember, “Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” Use AI for rapid prototyping, but it’s your expertise that transforms raw output into robust, scalable software. By honing our skills in design and architecture, we ensure our work remains impactful and enduring. Let’s continue to learn, adapt, and build software that stands the test of time.

Ready to streamline your recruitment process? Get a free demo to explore cutting-edge solutions and resources for your hiring needs.

What is Systems Design?

Systems Design is an all encompassing term which encapsulates both frontend and backend components harmonized to define the overall architecture of a product.

Designing robust and scalable systems requires a deep understanding of application, architecture and their underlying components like networks, data, interfaces and modules.

Systems Design, in its essence, is a blueprint of how software and applications should work to meet specific goals. The multi-dimensional nature of this discipline makes it open-ended – as there is no single one-size-fits-all solution to a system design problem.

What is a System Design Interview?

Conducting a System Design interview requires recruiters to take an unconventional approach and look beyond right or wrong answers. Recruiters should aim for evaluating a candidate’s ‘systemic thinking’ skills across three key aspects:

How they navigate technical complexity and navigate uncertainty
How they meet expectations of scale, security and speed
How they focus on the bigger picture without losing sight of details

This assessment of the end-to-end thought process and a holistic approach to problem-solving is what the interview should focus on.

What are some common topics for a System Design Interview

System design interview questions are free-form and exploratory in nature where there is no right or best answer to a specific problem statement. Here are some common questions:

How would you approach the design of a social media app or video app?

What are some ways to design a search engine or a ticketing system?

How would you design an API for a payment gateway?

What are some trade-offs and constraints you will consider while designing systems?

What is your rationale for taking a particular approach to problem solving?

Usually, interviewers base the questions depending on the organization, its goals, key competitors and a candidate’s experience level.

For senior roles, the questions tend to focus on assessing the computational thinking, decision making and reasoning ability of a candidate. For entry level job interviews, the questions are designed to test the hard skills required for building a system architecture.

The Difference between a System Design Interview and a Coding Interview

If a coding interview is like a map that takes you from point A to Z – a systems design interview is like a compass which gives you a sense of the right direction.

Here are three key difference between the two:

Coding challenges follow a linear interviewing experience i.e. candidates are given a problem and interaction with recruiters is limited. System design interviews are more lateral and conversational, requiring active participation from interviewers.

Coding interviews or challenges focus on evaluating the technical acumen of a candidate whereas systems design interviews are oriented to assess problem solving and interpersonal skills.

Coding interviews are based on a right/wrong approach with ideal answers to problem statements while a systems design interview focuses on assessing the thought process and the ability to reason from first principles.

How to Conduct an Effective System Design Interview

One common mistake recruiters make is that they approach a system design interview with the expectations and preparation of a typical coding interview.
Here is a four step framework technical recruiters can follow to ensure a seamless and productive interview experience:

Step 1: Understand the subject at hand

Develop an understanding of basics of system design and architecture
Familiarize yourself with commonly asked systems design interview questions
Read about system design case studies for popular applications
Structure the questions and problems by increasing magnitude of difficulty

Step 2: Prepare for the interview

Plan the extent of the topics and scope of discussion in advance
Clearly define the evaluation criteria and communicate expectations
Quantify constraints, inputs, boundaries and assumptions
Establish the broader context and a detailed scope of the exercise

Step 3: Stay actively involved

Ask follow-up questions to challenge a solution
Probe candidates to gauge real-time logical reasoning skills
Make it a conversation and take notes of important pointers and outcomes
Guide candidates with hints and suggestions to steer them in the right direction

Step 4: Be a collaborator

Encourage candidates to explore and consider alternative solutions
Work with the candidate to drill the problem into smaller tasks
Provide context and supporting details to help candidates stay on track
Ask follow-up questions to learn about the candidate’s experience

Technical recruiters and hiring managers should aim for providing an environment of positive reinforcement, actionable feedback and encouragement to candidates.

Evaluation Rubric for Candidates

Facilitate Successful System Design Interview Experiences with FaceCode

FaceCode, HackerEarth’s intuitive and secure platform, empowers recruiters to conduct system design interviews in a live coding environment with HD video chat.

FaceCode comes with an interactive diagram board which makes it easier for interviewers to assess the design thinking skills and conduct communication assessments using a built-in library of diagram based questions.

With FaceCode, you can combine your feedback points with AI-powered insights to generate accurate, data-driven assessment reports in a breeze. Plus, you can access interview recordings and transcripts anytime to recall and trace back the interview experience.

Learn how FaceCode can help you conduct system design interviews and boost your hiring efficiency.