An interesting list, based on standardized, objective criteria
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I agree that SJSU produces good software engineers but I disagree that it’s an “overlooked” school that is “significantly less likely to be targeted by recruiters” than the other schools listed. It’s definitely a recruiting target in the bay area!
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Happy to see some SoCal representation on there! UCLA, CalTech, UCSD, and USC all in the top 10!
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I’m surprised to find that SJSU is the highest-ranked school in the Bay Area, and I’m also impressed with Stony Brook’s position on the list.
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Re: SJSU
SJSU is also not overlooked by prospective CS majors applying to colleges. CS is the most selective major there – frosh admission threshold HS GPA (CSU recalculated with limited weighting) is typically in the 4.3 range (close to the maximum possible), even though most other majors’ frosh admission thresholds are in the 2.5-3.0 range.
However, CodeSignal’s claim that its General Coding Assessment is “Completed by 3 out of 4 Computer Science students in the US” does not seem to be very believable. I have never heard of it, much less been at a company that used it in the hiring process (for new graduates, or anyone). Nor have I heard of it being used as part of CS major curricula in college.
If it is as widespread as CodeSignal claims it is, it would not be surprising if some students were studying and practicing specifically for the test (like with any standardized test) and/or some CS departments embedded practicing specifically for the test in some of the CS courses.
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Yes that stood out to me as well. I think HackerRank is more widely used, and a large number of employers use neither test.
It’s used by many companies for screening internship and new grads applicants. More on this below.
It definitely is not. What CodeSignal offers is a set of coding challenges to supposedly test candidates’ programming skills. The challenges are like programming puzzles and what the vast majority of successful candidates do, is prepare for such challenges via LeetCode or similar sites.
I am not a fan of using CodeSignal or HackerRank for these initial screens because it only tests for a particular type of ability, and in real life I’ve worked with excellent software engineers who would have done badly on these tests. But I can see why it’s helpful to companies (like the FAANGs) that receive far more applicants than they can manually screen.
So… I’m going to take this ranking list with a large grain of salt. It’s based on only one metric (and not a particularly good one IMO) and (no surprise) the ranking is produced by the company that’s trying to popularize their product.
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The site’s scope of inquiry was limited, such that this does not represent a comprehensive national ranking:
As a CS student, almost everyone I know has taken this test. Companies with top internship programs like Uber and Roblox require this test – although they may rebrand it as a company-specific test – so it is likely that a large portion of top-performing students have taken this test.
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Interesting. I’m actually wondering if the test is more commonly taken in some student populations or universities, and not so much in others.
It is widely used by companies that receive a very large number of applications, like the FAANGs and the ones @ucla_cs_god mentioned (some firms use HackerRank instead, and many Wall Street firms prefer HireVue).
However, I still doubt that 75% of all CS students take this test, because many students (from the less competitive colleges) simply apply to local opportunities, and most of these firms don’t need CodeSignal.
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Some companies use HackerRank, but not for the tests that it provides. It can be used to show and share coding during remote interviews.
Yes