How we interview engineers

    Every engineer we put forward has already had a technical interview with an engineer. Here is what we judge in every candidate, how we recommend a level, and the scorecard for each engineering role we hire.

    The interview, step by step

    The same process for every role we take on.

    1. 1

      We agree the scorecard at the brief

      On the first call we turn your role into a short list of things to assess, weighted for the level you need. That's what the candidate is measured against.

    2. 2

      An engineer interviews them

      An engineer from our panel, matched as closely as we can to the role, runs a 60-minute interview built around real work: code, a design problem, an incident.

    3. 3

      You get a one-page report

      What we tested, strengths and gaps in plain words, the level we'd hire them at, and what to probe in your own round.

    4. 4

      Candidates get honest feedback

      Whether or not they go forward, candidates hear how it went.

    Four things we judge in every engineer

    Whatever the discipline, these decide whether someone will make a difference on your team. The craft scorecard for each role sits on top.

    • Impact

      Do they talk about outcomes or only tasks? We ask what changed because of their work, and how they knew.

    • Judgement

      Given an unclear problem, do they find the part that matters, name the trade-off and commit to a choice?

    • Raising the team

      Reviews, mentoring, documentation, better tools. The higher the level, the more of their impact comes through other people.

    • How they work

      Ownership when things break, clear communication, and how they give and take feedback.

    How we recommend a level

    Titles mean different things at different companies, so we compare scope, not titles.

    Mid-level
    Delivers well-defined work on their own and knows when to ask for help.
    Senior
    Owns a feature or system end to end, handles ambiguity and makes the people around them better.
    Staff / lead
    Sets direction across several teams or systems, and turns vague goals into a plan others follow.
    Principal
    Shapes technical strategy for the organisation and is trusted with its hardest, longest-running problems.

    Engineering managers have their own ladder. See the manager scorecard.

    What you receive for each shortlisted candidate:

    Candidate R.K.

    Senior Backend Engineer · 60-minute technical interview

    Sample report
    Tested
    API design for an order service, debugging a failing integration test, and the trade-off between a SQL write and a queue.
    Strong
    Clear data modelling. Wrote tests without being asked. Explained idempotency well.
    Gaps
    Little production experience with message queues. Vague on observability.
    Level
    Senior, with confidence. Not yet staff.
    Probe next
    An incident they owned end to end, and how they would add tracing to this service.
    RecommendationShortlist
    A sample interview report. The candidate is fictional; the format is the one clients receive.

    Scorecards by role

    What we assess, how the 60 minutes run, and a sample report for each engineering role we hire.

    Questions about the interview

    An engineer from our panel, people who build and ship software with AlgoSmiths, matched as closely as we can to the role. For specialist roles we agree the interviewer at the brief, and if nobody on the panel can judge the role properly, we don't take it on.

    Yes. The scorecards on our role pages are a starting point. At the brief we agree what matters for your role, stack and level, and the interview follows that.

    No. The candidates are invented so we can show the format without sharing anyone's details. The structure is exactly what you receive with every shortlisted candidate.

    About 60 minutes, by video call.

    Yes. With our Interviews only service you send the candidates and we run the technical round and write the report.

    Already have candidates? Use our interviews on their own. Looking for a role? See how it works for candidates.

    Tell us the role.

    Four details and we'll come back within a working day with how we'd approach it.

    No retainer. You pay only when someone joins. Or write to talent@algosmiths.com