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There needs to be something like the SAT for computer programming. Getting a 1500 won't mean you're a genius but it will mean you can do the job, and then there can be 1-2 interviews for domain-specific skills and culture fit.

I know many have tried this, some have built great businesses, but nobody has yet become "The Credential" but I do believe this will eventually exist.



I’ve had some companies give a Codility test, which is basically 3 leetcode-style problems, 30 min each, solvable in 10 or 15 lines of code, any language you want. Then the actual interview can focus on discussing your solutions and higher level questions.

(Turns out the company started as a 10% project of the first company I encountered that used it)


You just have leetcode their next product idea.

They'll rent some office space, put you in a room for 2 hours on a computer with no internet, and see how well you can grind through their problems.

Your score will arrive via the Blockchain to save on physical trees and allow for ready verification by future employers.


Generate an NFT with a user's score on it, and you've got VC money all over it.


But then what does it mean when you sell the NFT to someone else?! (laughing on the inside, love the idea)


Sure, and then this test will closely correlate with IQ, strongly select for you-know-who, and we’ll be right back where we started.


Hopefully it would correlate with programming ability and not general IQ.


IQ tests tend to cluster around a pretty specific kind of thinking. Pattern matching. Logic. Math. Sometimes vocabulary.

This doesn't correlate with programming ability: it is indistinguishable from programming ability.


Nonsense. I have a reasonably high IQ but no programming ability because I’ve never learned it. Meanwhile there are many highly employable programmers with very ordinary IQs doing things like making websites or implementing business logic. It’s only a specific type of programming where success directly correlates with IQ.


I know too many people who do well at tests but suck at life.

Standard tests this and universal metric that are shite.




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