How to pass a test task

Hi there. I've been checking a lot of pre-employment test tasks recently as a part of my job and noticed that all junior developers fall into similar traps. And here is a little post on what you should pay attention to, so the reviewer will approve your code, and you'll get more chances to land the job.

Usually, test tasks for mobile developers look like a simple app that an average junior developer can create in one weekend/week. Some companies may place greater emphasis on the UI part, some - on client-server communication or something more specific to their current project. The checklist below is a must-have in any of these cases.

Two main things I'm looking for in a test task while reviewing are the usage of the stack we use in our company and code cleanliness + overall tidiness.
Why? I want to be sure that my potential colleague will start delivering new features ASAP, and his/her code will be maintainable.

Here is a full checklist:

1. Reuse your code. Try to follow DRY and SOLID principles.

2. Don't overthink architecture: divide your code into well-defined layers. If you have no idea how to do it, ask somebody more experienced from the community.

3. Use the company's tech stack. I often see companies mention some libraries and approaches in their job requirements section. Show that you know them.

4. No commented out code, no logs. That's it.

5. Use linters. It may help you to follow the style guides of the language and/or framework. It annoys me when I see files like SomeUsefulClass.dart instead of some_useful_class.dart, or functions returning dynamics instead of defined types.

6. Don't forget about basic Dependency Injection

7. Think about basic UI/UX principles: no fancy fonts, no tiny/gigantic font sizes, no colors that contradict each other. If you are not a designer and Figma was not provided, try to make it as minimalistic as possible. When waiting for the response from the server, make the user know that something is going on - show a loading indicator. If something went wrong, show a clear error message. Remember, "An error occurred" is a bad one.

8. Run your code before submitting it. Don't waste the reviewer's time making him git clone, build and run your app only to see that it crushes.

9. Bonus tip: write a clear Readme. Just a basic description of the app is enough. Maybe nobody will notice it, but I always do.

If you have something to add, write it in the comments.

If you're a junior looking for a job, break a leg🍀

#career #dev