Hackermeter has an alternative to resumes
Hackermeter wants to get rid of resumes. If you’ve ever hired a programmer you know how much of a daunting task that can be and it’s hard to evaluate a programmer merely on resume. You want to know how well they can program, right?
Well Hackermeter, which is part of the recent Y! combinator class, wants to start using coder scores instead of the traditional resume.
As a developer, Hackermeter initially presents itself as a set of around a dozen challenges for you to pick from. On one end, you’ve got your basics: can you make a fibonacci sequence generator? Can you determine if a string is a palindrome? On the other end, you’ve got the tougher stuff: can you recursively parse a chunk of JSON to look for a very specific type of data structure? Can you test for limitations in a lightweight cryptography model?
All of these different things allow a knowledgable employer to get the best programmer for their dollar, so to speak.