How do you show off your coding skills in a live challenge?

Firstly, reject the challenge - real coding challenges are not done with a gun pointed at your head. Secondly, understand the context and the goal - what is the actual problem that you are trying to solve? Thirdly, don't be tempted to bullshit - if you don't know the answer, admit that and focus on how you would approach filling the knowledge gap. The key skill in being a software engineer is learning how to understand problems and need states, not coming up with perfect solutions at the drop of a hat. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably someone you don't want to work for / with.

Something that helps me : Practicing projects: Build small projects that incorporate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Create interactive web pages or simple applications to reinforce your skills and gain hands-on experience.

Knowing the basics can never be overstated. - Brush on your basics - Prepare for the challenge and remember to always stay calm

In my experience - Prepare for a live coding challenge by reinforcing your understanding of core front-end technologies: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Review syntax, rules, and best practices for each language. If the job involves specific frameworks or libraries like React, Angular, or Vue, familiarize yourself with them. Practice with tools and editors you're comfortable using, such as VS Code, Chrome DevTools, or CodePen, to enhance your confidence and efficiency during the coding challenge.

In my experience - Prepare for a live coding challenge by reinforcing your understanding of core front-end technologies: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Review syntax, rules, and best practices for each language. If the job involves specific frameworks or libraries like React, Angular, or Vue, familiarize yourself with them. Practice with tools and editors you're comfortable using, such as VS Code, Chrome DevTools, or CodePen, to enhance your confidence and efficiency during the coding challenge.

To show off your coding skills in a live challenge, you can follow these strategies: 1. Understand the Requirements: Take the time to fully understand the requirements of the challenge. Read through the prompt and make sure you understand what is being asked. If you have any doubts or questions, don't hesitate to ask for clarification. 2. Plan and Organize: Before diving into coding, spend some time planning and organizing your approach. Break down the problem into smaller sub-problems and create a clear plan of how you will tackle each one. 3. Write Clean and Efficient Code: Write code that is clean, readable, and efficient. Use meaningful variable and function names, proper indentation, and comments where necessary.

Believe it or not, actual coding should come last in a live coding session, specially these days with all the available AI help and tooling. Start by thoroughly understanding and questioning the problem. This clarifies your approach and sharpens your vision. Next, outline and test scenarios to confirm your understanding. Break down the solution into manageable parts, creating a robust strategy from these elements. Now, you're set to code—tackle each section step by step until completion. Make sure you explain what you are doing while you complete each step. Even if you do bad, remember that a thoughtful approach often matters more than perfect code.

Usually there are multiple solutions and potential paths when working a problem during a live code. The proctor is assessing communication skills, as well as how you'd interact with members of the product team. Understanding the problem requires asking questions! For example, "Let's prioritize our time. Should we start by building the 'Add' or the 'Delete' functionality?" If they don't give you an answer, it's your responsibility to come up with it!

After understanding the problem, how one breaks down the problem is also equally important to avoid digging a rabbit hole and getting lost in it. Understanding how best the technology is to be used works in tandem with Understanding the problem. Only Use a technology that has the capability of solving the problem all the way, ignoring the ease of use since learning can make everything easy. Sadly, it would seem this is a hard one evidently seen in the programming language banters and teasing.

Don't start anything with doubts. if you notice ambiguity, ask the interviewer. If any requirements are not clear, don't assume anything, ask. If a requirement is too macro, discuss breaking it down into small requirements with the interviewer. Remember: understanding problems, and dealing with poorly written requirements is unfortunately part of a developer's life.

Whether you are just a beginner or a seasoned developer, code quality is a top priority. Clean codes create a stronger profile of the coder. Follow the coding standards and conventions for the language and framework that you choose. Some examples of a clean code could be as follows: 1. Use clear and consistent variable names 2. Code comments serve the best purpose to explain the code 3. Avoid unnecessary or redundant code 4. Optimize code for better performance 5. Use proper indentation and spacing to format the code These tips not only serve the purpose of a cleaner code but also allows easy scan and debug facility for the code.

it's easier to write clean code if you think about how working with non-technical personnel will look like if they have to sit with you with interest in the work. An example is building a solution for an accountant and you need to sit with them for a test session if you happen to want to make a quick fix. You want them to see familiar terminologies and marvel at how your code is organized by way of indentations and comments explaining what a function may be doing if it's not immediately clear.

Do not add comments to explain how the code works, if this is necessary it is a good indicator that your code is not clean enough. Comments should not explain what the code does, the code itself, when written well, does this. search for Frontend Clean Code articles, the internet is full of examples of how to do this, practice.

No matter how experienced you are, the cleaner the code you write, the better you are. You should put in mind clean code principals of, SOLID, and DRY. And always remember the simple in better.

It is important to test your code both to avoid unnecessary errors and to ensure quality. It is essential yo run code frequently and check the output behavior of the code for a range of inputs. This allows easy identification of any kind of errors - logical or syntactical. Use the available tools for libraries and frameworks to test your code. This indirectly results in an optimized code with better quality.

practice TDD. you need to be able to write tests simply and quickly to avoid rework and quickly fix bugs Automating tests saves you time

Always test your code, doesn't matter if you are working on a project or doing a live coding challenge. Testing is an industry standard these days and it significantly optimises the CICD pipeline (as you'll see where something in your code is failing and why). So next time when you're on a live coding challenge, remember to offer some tests.

There are times when you want to avoid embarrassing moments like code running under some conditions and breaking under conditions you hope will hold. Writing checks as part of your solution can save a lot of testing and debug time. for example, if a variable is not meant to be null at the time of usage, then write what to do if a variable is null for graceful performance.

Testing ensures peace of mind, especially during critical stages like pre-production releases. Just like any product, thorough evaluation before delivery is crucial for success. Test your code, and make sure that your code is working as expected.

This is the most valuable insight from this list. Having the ability to communicate your expertise beyond the code you are writing can be a game changer and increase the odds of a successful interview. Make sure to let the interviewer know you understand the problem and that you could follow different paths, proving the technical details and the reasons behind your choices. Happy coding!

In a live coding challenge, it's crucial to first deeply grasp the problem, strategize a clear approach, and craft clean, efficient, and well-commented code. Showcase your problem-solving prowess by methodically breaking down tasks, optimizing solutions, gracefully handling errors, and rigorously testing. Effective communication with judges or onlookers, articulating your thought process and coding decisions, is key. Continuous practice sharpens your skills and hones your adaptability in high-pressure scenarios.

Agreed that this is the most important thing! Live coding exercises are very top level and designed to be completed in an hour, give or take. But there’s so much more that can done to address a problem. Think of how this relates within the bigger picture of the company’s product, how can it be used? How would you test it? What are the edge cases? What assumptions have you made? How would you build this is if we’re not a single, independent entity?

The most important thing is to think out loud. If you reached this step of the hiring process, I assume that you prepared yourself for that, so with that in mind, put everything that is crossing your mind out. Even with your doubts, it's important to show your thinking process, even if you're not going in the right direction, it shows that you have a logical path. If the person on the other side hears you going in a different direction, they can help you, aligning with the expectation of the interview.

Been able to hear and let the other know which path to choose before coding is also good. Having the ability to listen to other idea on how to solve thinks and discuss about it is something that's key for every developer. As a front end is also key to understand what's look&feel that the client or designer want to achieve and discuss about it is important

Remember, collaboration is key in this field. You'll be working alongside developers, QA testers, designers, project owners, and others, so effective teamwork—a crucial soft skill—will be used constantly.

Creo que la calma al momento de plantear un algoritmo en vivo es determinante. Ya sea para una entrevista laboral o para dar una clase en vivo. Necesitamos calma para poder separar el problema a resolver en peque?os problemas más fáciles de encarar. Por otro lado creo que necesitamos ser transparentes, buscar en línea si necesitamos sacarnos una duda de sintaxis o no nos acordamos del nombre de un método o función. Actuar lo más parecido a cuando estamos codificando solos. Así lograremos una mejor performance.

In a live coding challenge, effectively communicate your approach, prioritize problem-solving tasks, and write clean, efficient code. Adaptability, thorough testing, and time management are crucial. Showcase versatility by using multiple languages or frameworks. Outside challenges, highlight personal projects and contributions to demonstrate coding prowess. Collaboration, adaptability, and innovation are key traits to exhibit.