Partner Article

Geektastic launches Peer to Peer Software Developer Community to improve tech recruitment

Hiring tech talent is hard. While 60% of UK companies have a skills gaps within their tech departments, the scarcity of good candidates, the war for talent in the industry and the automated code challenge platforms used by most companies has made placing good candidates tougher for recruiters.

London startup Geektastic was established to help recruitment companies and in-house recruiters address these challenges.

Geektastic is a technology platform supported by a highly skilled community of experienced global software engineers who personally review coding challenges to evaluate candidates’ skills, as part of the tech recruitment process. The company wants to help recruiters and businesses source talent more quickly and cost effectively, whilst also improving the candidate experience.

As a platform and community run by developers for developers, Geektastic sets peer reviewed challenges that are more engaging for candidates as an alternative to the automated coding challenges that are disliked by developers, Geektastic’s peer reviewed experience more rigorously tests a candidate’s technical and problem solving skills, providing a deeper insight into their capabilities and a more personal and holistic approach to pre-recruitment assessment.

Completed code challenges are reviewed by the community’s ‘UberGeeks’ -experienced software engineers handpicked from around the world who also provide constructive performance feedback to candidates. To join the UberGeek community, developers must excel at multiple coding challenges and also perform ‘dummy’ assessments to ensure their reviewing skills match their coding capabilities.

According to Geektastic’s Co-founder Rick Brownlow, coding challenges are now a vital part of the recruitment process, but the current model is failing developers and employers. In his experience, most software developers dislike undertaking automated tech screens because they realise they cannot properly evaluate their broad spectrum of skills.

Candidates that have used the Geektastic platform report that they enjoy taking the challenges and appreciate the performance feedback which is so lacking in machine based systems. Leading employers also respect the high standards set by the company’s expert developers.

One recruiter using Geektastic to evaluate candidates is tech recruitment firm Mortimer Spinks. A director at the firm, Robin Beattie said, “The majority of coding challenges offered by companies can create a real barrier to recruitment. It is a candidate driven market and good developers don’t want to sit automated coding challenges, particularly if they are applying for several jobs. Companies are losing the best talent - the dropout rates are high.”

“For Mortimer Spinks, Geektastic has been a really effective way of identifying the best software developers. Candidates are much more responsive to taking part in peer reviewed assessments, rather than automated tests, and our clients value the depth and insight the assessments provide. By getting greater engagement from both candidates and clients, the platform is actively helping us make more successful placements. And that’s great for the software developer, our clients and of course us.”

Over 5,000 developers have joined the Geektastic community and 80 developers are now earning a secondary income as UberGeeks by reviewing code challenges.

Skyscanner, Accenture, Go Compare and Just Giving have already used Geektastic to support their tech recruitment process. Just Giving engaged with Geektastic to evaluate candidates for new high profile roles because the company wanted to add a human touch to their recruitment processes that is not possible with automated technical assessments.

How Geektastic works

Developers don’t pay anything to join the community and can take a Geektastic coding challenge for free.

UberGeeks are handpicked by Geektastic according to the quality of their submissions and reviewing skills. They can earn £25 for every coding challenge they review.

Recruiters can either use Geektastic’s own challenges or administer their clients’ challenges via the platform. Prices are based on a pay per use model and start from £50/month.

Visit www.geektastic.com for more information.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Geektastic .