This blog was originally published on Substack. Subscribe to ‘Letters to New Coders’ to receive free weekly posts.

Note: This post is adapted from a blog I wrote for CS students over at Educative. If you’re currently a student, you can get 6 free months of access to Educative via our GitHub Student Pack (including our AI Mock Interviewer tool). If you are able to take advantage, definitely do!

The internet is full of horror stories about take-home assignments in coding interviews. Some candidates report spending 50+ hours building an application, only to submit it and be ghosted by the interviewer.

While these experiences are unfortunate, they’re not typical.

I’ve conducted hundreds of interviews at Microsoft, Meta, and now Educative. I don’t ask candidates to spend more than a few hours on a take-home project. Plus, if you spend much more, it won’t help your chances — I have time to review a couple hundred lines of code, not a few thousand.

So, what are most take-home coding projects actually like?

For the most part, companies want to see how you approach a small project in one workday or less. Project specifications vary widely across companies and roles, which is a good thing! A well-designed assignment offers a glimpse into the type of work you’d do on that team. It also enables interviewers to assess your technical and problem-solving skills, without the pressure of a live coding session.

Today, I want to provide a roadmap for tackling the take-home coding project so that you can advance in your technical interview. Whatever your project, these guidelines will help you build an effective solution in a reasonable timeframe.

First, let’s address what to expect from the take-home project.

How do take-home projects work?

Take-home assignments present a task for you to complete asynchronously in a limited timeframe. Companies may assign a task at any stage of the coding interview. It can be an early screening tool, or an assessment later in the process.

Projects can vary widely by role. For example, front-end candidates may be asked to replicate a reference design given in Figma, while full-stack candidates may need to create an appointment scheduler application. You may receive starter code, or be asked to build from scratch in a language of your choice. Some companies even allow you to pick your own project.

Depending on the complexity of your task, you typically have a day or two to work on it, sometimes with a cap of a few hours.

You may wonder if it’s worth investing time in a take-home project, especially if you’re not yet a serious candidate. To that point, I’d encourage you to keep 2 things in mind:

1. The software engineering job market is highly saturated.

Software engineering is a more popular field than ever, but there aren’t enough roles to meet this demand. Companies often screen hundreds, sometimes 1,000+ candidates for each position.

Think of it this way. About 5% of candidates are selected for initial screening. In a pool of 1,000 candidates, that’s still 50. Managers may not have time to speak with all 50 candidates.

Take-home assignments give interviewers a better sense of your skills and help narrow the candidate pool to a manageable number.

In a saturated market, take-home assignments can actually help you stand out — as long as you’re prepared to tackle them efficiently.

2. Reasonable coding assignments should only take a few hours.

As we discussed earlier, it’s possible you’ll encounter an unreasonable coding assignment. But most companies understand that you’re juggling interview prep for multiple roles.

Well-designed coding assignments aren’t a test of who’s willing to work the hardest. They do show interviewers how you build practical solutions under a deadline, using whatever setup and resources you find most helpful.

Remember: time limits on assignments exist for a reason. In one quick scan, interviewers want to get a sense of the core skills you used to solve the problem. It’s okay to spend 6 hours on a 4-hour assignment. But if you spend 40, it will be obvious that you did (and more difficult to assess your core skills).

I received my assignment… now where do I start?

If you’ve received a take-home assignment from a company, congratulations! It’s difficult to stand out from the pack, so any progress in your application is worth celebrating.

It can be tempting to dive into building right away. However, rushing into your project can lead you to miss key requirements and work inefficiently. You don’t want to realize several hours in that you’ve started something too complicated to finish, or failed to address core requirements.

You only have a few hours, so it’s critical that you take a measured and strategic approach. I’ve outlined 5 tips to guide you through the take-home project, so that you can focus on what matters, minimize anxiety, and advance in your technical interview.

5 tips to ace your coding take-home project

1. Clarify requirements

Descriptions for take-home projects are typically very brief. To ensure you understand the task, read the instructions two or three times and take notes. You’ll probably have all the information you need. However, if it’s unclear which frameworks, libraries, or data sources you should use, ask for clarity as soon as possible.

2. State the assumptions

Part of being a developer is making sound decisions in ambiguous contexts. Some aspects of the assignment will leave room for interpretation — this is likely intentional.

Avoid asking tons of clarifying questions. Instead, make reasonable assumptions whenever possible and state them in your code comments. Providing insight into your assumptions helps interviewers understand your work. Plus, it reflects well on your communication skills.

3. Focus on core requirements

To make efficient use of your time, it’s important to focus on the core requirements rather than “nice to have” features. As you decide what to build, divide your planned tasks into “core functionality” and “optional.” Only return to the “optional” category if you finish earlier than expected.

Some candidates struggle to complete the functionality of their project because they spend too much time laying the groundwork. Boilerplate code and directory structures are important. However, don’t get carried away — you’ll be more successful if you start by creating what’s absolutely necessary.

4. Test

As a professional developer, you’ll need to write unit tests to ensure your code works as expected. These standards apply to your take-home project.

There’s no need to write a comprehensive battery of tests, but I recommend writing a few unit tests and including some edge cases. It will improve your code quality and show that you know what it takes to write great software.

5. Write clean code

You may have a creative idea for how to solve a problem. But if your code is inefficient or difficult to follow, interviewers will doubt your technical abilities.

These best practices can help you write clean code and catch mistakes:

• Use tools like prettifiers, linters, and memory leak detection tools
• Read your code carefully — tools don’t catch everything
• Write modular code and follow the SOLID principles
• If you create a database (instead of using a JSON file), be sure to normalize it
• Keep scalability and robustness in mind
• Validate all inputs
• When in doubt, add code comments

To be clear, interviewers aren’t expecting perfect code in your take-home project. However, incorporating these guidelines shows that you have the technical skills and discipline to do production-quality work.

Don’t forget to enjoy the process!

If you’ve completed a degree or bootcamp to become a software engineer, I’m guessing it’s because you love solving complex problems with code. To land a role where you can do this, there are many hoops you need to jump through, from writing your resume and submitting applications to preparing for interviews.

Reminder: If you are currently a student and want 6 months free to Educative — including access to our new AI Mock Interview tool — you can sign up for the GitHub Student Pack today.

Only a small portion of the process involves what you enjoy most — building stuff!

So, if you’re feeling anxiety or dread about the take-home project, remember why you want a software engineering job in the first place. You’ve spent months or years studying so that you can solve tasks like this one. The more you’re able to connect to the joy of coding, the less arduous your take-home project will feel.

Remember: there’s no need to overthink it! The skills you’ve honed in your studies, plus the tips I’ve shared today, are more than enough to help you complete a successful project.

Good luck, and stay tuned for more tips on how to ace your coding interview.

Happy learning!

– Fahim