Learn about notable new features, fixes, and other improvements to the application!
July 13, 2023
Features
Non-accuracy Scored Challenges
We have added the ability to build challenges that don't count towards the assessment's accuracy score. This allows surveys and personality inventories to be developed which don't have a proper context of "accuracy". Solutions to these challenges will still have their own score, but will not count towards the score of the assessment result.
Improvements
C# 10
C# 10 is now supported within project challenges.
Elixir 1.11
Elixir version 1.11 is now supported within Project Challenges.
June 15, 2023
Improvements
Improved Challenge Starter Code
We have improved the code used for many of our custom challenge examples, updating them to a new set of best practices.
Improved font rendering
We have improved some of our font rendering around numerical numbers for a more consistent experience.
Improved insights related to potential cheating
We have improved our insight detection algorithms related to how events such as outside paste events are tracked and reported.
Random question preview answer sort order
When previewing Q&A challenges with random questions, you now have the option to view the answer sheet in the same order as the randomized questions.
May 29, 2023
Challenges
AWS: Create and Destroy S3 Bucket Objects
In this challenge, you'll interact with an AWS S3 bucket.
AngularJS: Counter
Create a simple AngularJS Counter which responds to click events.
AngularJS: Turbo Counter
Create a somewhat more advanced AngularJS Counter which includes a step size.
Bash Linux Quiz
This challenge tests your knowledge of Bash scripting on Linux.
Cascading String
In this challenge, you'll create ASCII art by arranging the words in a string in a cascade pattern.
Corner String
In this challenge, you'll arrange a string along the corner of a rectangle.
Cross String
In this challenge, you'll arrange a string in a cross pattern.
Find Package Version
In this challenge, you'll write a simple script to determine which version of a package we're using.
Flask/SQLAlchemy: Debug Dataclass
In this challenge, you'll debug a Flask GET route that's not returning the data as expected.
GitHub: Locate a Feature Release
In this challenge, you'll figure out when a particular feature was added to a popular open source project.
Jest Testing Quiz
Try your hand at a quiz on the basics of writing unit tests with Jest and associated patterns and best practices.
Linux: Total Memory
In this challenge, you'll tell us how much memory we have on our machine.
Make a Name Tag
In this challenge, you'll make a "Hello" name tag!
Make a Name Tag (Easier Version)
In this challenge, you'll make a "Hello" name tag!
Metaprogramming: The Builder of Things
Create a Thing class that makes heavy use of metaprogramming.
Pandas: Categorize Dates
In this challenge, you'll put a series of dates into one of a few buckets.
Pandas: Split Names
In this challenge, you'll split a series of names in a Pandas dataframe.
Playwright Quiz
This quiz tests your Playwright knowledge.
PowerShell Quiz
Try a quiz on PowerShell.
Product Designer
Puppeteer Quiz
This quiz is designed to test your Puppeteer knowledge, from basic to advanced concepts.
Pyright: Add Typing
In this challenge, you'll add type hints to existing Python code.
Pysparkling
React Testing Library Quiz
Try your hand at a quiz on the basics of writing React unit tests with React Testing Library.
Ruby’s Eleven
In this challenge, you'll hack into an authentication system!
Sample Honor Agreement
This is an honor agreement. You will agree to not use LLMs or human assistance on the following assessment.
Split HTML Table Row
In this challenge, you'll split an HTML table row using a specific class as a cut-off point.
Staircase String
In this challenge, you'll make a string of words into a staircase!
Staircase String (R Debugging)
In this challenge, you'll debug an ASCII art string algorithm.
Turtle Graphics: 10 PRINT
In this turtle graphics challenge, you'll draw the classic "10 PRINT" pattern.
Turtle Graphics: Color Bars
In this turtle graphics challenge, you'll draw a series of bars (horizontal stripes) along the canvas.
Turtle Graphics: Truchet Tiles
In this turtle graphics challenge, you'll draw Truchet Tiles.
February 22, 2023
Challenges
Pandas: Working with the Attention Dataset
In this challenge, you'll complete a few basic data processing tasks with Pandas.
Turtle Graphics: Draw a Box
In this turtle graphics challenge, you'll write code to draw a simple box.
December 14, 2022
With this release, we've added improved functionality for inviting large cohorts, and fixed some small issues that affect a subset of our users. Not to mention, there's 23 new challenges to check out!
Features
Bulk Candidate Invitations
With this update, you can now easily invite large cohorts of candidates and students, right from within our application. Our system will now process the invitations in the background, as well as providing tools to monitor the progress of the invitations, and filter the candidate list via the invitation cohort.
Any unsuccessful invitations are now tracked as well, and you'll be able to easily copy the lists of successful and unsuccessful emails during or after the cohort has been processed.
Sometimes when you are creating an assessment, it's easy to lose sight of how long that assessment will take to solve. We now warn when an assessment is getting excessively long, or has a lot of challenges.
The limits we currently recommend are 4 hours and 10 challenges. Note that we still won't stop you from publishing long assessments.
If you really like very long assessments, and don't want to be notified, don't worry! We've added a team-wide option to turn off the warning. Just visit your team account page, and disable Warn on long assessments.
Well now we have! SmartIDE is our answer to bridge the gap between web editors and desktop editors, while maintaining the zero-effort startup experience our web IDE has always provided. And with adding it to Classic Code, even our most streamlined code challenge experience can now get the benefits of this feature.
New Interact experience for Classic Code challenges!
We expanded our new interact experience to classic code challenges!
This all-new, ground up design allows multiple people to not only edit the solution, but also tracks focus, cursor position, and selection across all users simultaneously.
Verify when a team member is invited from a new domain
If you now accidentally invite a team member from a domain never used before on your team, you'll get an alert. This can help to prevent accidentally inviting a candidate as a team member, and also catch certain types of typos.
The check only compares against active or invited team members, so if you deactivate team members with old or invlalid domains, they will be ignored until you use that domain again.
Bug Fixes
Ensured the correct term for assessments is shown to candidates
We've fixed a few places where the term "assessment" wasn't swapped with the preferred term.
August 30, 2022
Many bug fixes and some small improvements throughout the application in this release!
Features
Billing Usages Data Export
If your team has a custom plan with data exporting, account owners can now export a CSV with all the usages that have been billed within a given timeframe. This export will include detailed information about the usage, including when it was billed, which assessment & candidate was being billed, and if it was included or an overage.
Identify improperly configured clocks on candidate computers
If a candidate's computer is significantly out-of-sync with our server, it can cause issues such as an assessment or challenge timer ending early.
For timed assessments, we now identify this in a time-zone-agnostic manner, and if the user's computer is significantly out-of-sync (greater than a ±5 minutes difference), we notify them.
They can still bypass the dialog if they choose, but hopefully this gives them a chance to correct their machine's clock before starting.
Logging out of invite-only assessments no longer results in an error
If you log out of an invite-only assessment, you'll now be thanked for completing the assessment, rather than shown an error.
Challenges
Rock, Paper, Scissors Smart Contract
Code a Smart Contract for the game Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Bug Fixes
Fix for missing assessment titles
For teams with over 1000 assessments, we fixed a bug that prevented the client from showing assessment titles in certain situations.
Improve handling of assigning team members when inviting candidates
We fixed some issues around assigning team members when inviting candidates.
Update Qualified Score dynamically
We now automatically update the Qualified Score on candidates when changes are made to their assessments or profile.
June 27, 2022
This release includes a lot of smaller behind-the-scene improvements, some changes to how candidates are listed, better CodeMirror history, and a bunch of new challenges.
Improvements
Archive Candidates are now separated out
We no longer show archived candidates in the "All" list, which has also been renamed to Open. Archived candidates are still visible under the Archived filter, and by default will also show up when searching.
Code Editor Undo improvements
You can now undo to your hearts content! Our editor now supports 200 history points. We also fixed the small bug that let you undo past the beginning of your work.
Challenges
Chart.js: NBA Blocked Shots Pie Chart
In this challenge, you'll create a pie chart to show which positions blocked the most shots per game in a dataset for a professional basketball season.
Detect Exterior Cells
Given a 2d grid of characters representing a top-down game level, determine which cells are outside a wall.
Git: Merge Their Changes
In this git challenge, you'll resolve a merge conflict by choosing the changes from the branch you're merging.
NodeJS & Express Quiz
This quiz tests your knowledge of the NodeJS ecosystem along with the Express web framework.
Testing: Greeter (Mocha)
Write unit tests for a simple greeter function in Mocha/Chai.
Web Scraping: Nested Comments
This challenge involves scraping nested comments from HTML.
d3.js: SF Crime Choropleth
This challenge involves creating a choropleth map of crime by district in San Francisco.
d3.js: SF Geojson
In this challenge, you'll create a geojson map of the police districts of San Francisco using d3.js.
Bug Fixes
Markdown Improvements
Markdown no longer eats text that looks like an HTML element, such as , which is now escaped and rendered in place.
May 11, 2022
This release introduces one of our most exciting features yet: SmartIDE!
Features
Introducing SmartIDE: Code completion, docs, and error-checking right in our code editor
SmartIDE is our answer to bridge the gap between web editors and desktop editors, while maintaining the zero-effort startup experience our web IDE has always provided. We've taken our existing easy-to-use, web-based IDE, and added in intelligent, useful development tools to improve you and your candidate's code editing experience in a massive way.
In this challenge, you'll detect the shapes in a black and white image.
Flask: Notes CRUD API
In this Flask API challenge, you'll build routes for a basic "notes" CRUD app.
Flask: Notes PUT Route
In this Flask API challenge, your task is to add a method to a route to allow users to update a resource.
Git: Show Commit Message
In this git and bash challenge, you'll return the message of the n-th most recent commit for a repo.
Pandas: Sum Positive Chunks
In this Pandas challenge, you'll sum runs of contiguous positive numbers in a series.
April 21, 2022
This release includes an amazingly powerful new feature for pair-programming on project challenges, but it also includes a ton of challenges, a few smaller improvements, and lots of bug fixes!
Features
Pair Programming (Interact) Support for Project Code Challenges
We've added the ability to real-time, pair-program with candidates and students in our project challenge interface. This all-new, ground up design allows multiple people to not only edit the solution, but also tracks focus, cursor position, and selection across all users simultaneously.
This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD).
Data Structures & Algorithms Quiz
This quiz tests your understanding of algorithms and data structures.
Design Prompt: Elevator App
Describe how you'd design an elevator application.
Design Prompt: Quiz App
In this design prompt, you'll be describing how you'd approach designing a multiple-choice quiz application.
Django REST Framework: Pagination
Add pagination to a simple Django REST Framework app!
Django: Record Store API
In this challenge, you'll build a simple REST API for a record store.
Django: Record Store API Models
Begin creating models for a Record Store API in Django.
Django: Record Store Authentication
In this challenge, you'll add a token authentication scheme to an existing record store API.
Front-End: Category Filter (JS focus)
In this challenge, you'll implement filtering on an HTML list.
Front-End: Child Event Listeners
In this challenge, handle events on buttons inside card boxes to enable them to be selected and deselected.
Front-End: Figlet Fonts
Create an app in vanilla JS which provides an interface to an ASCII font API.
Front-End: Landing Page
Create a basic landing page with HTML and CSS.
Front-End: Limit Checked Checkboxes
Write a function to limit the number of checkboxes that can be checked at once.
Front-End: Pizza Checkout
Implement a pizza ordering form with special requirements for selecting toppings.
Front-End: Sortable Debug
In this front-end challenge, debug a drag-and-drop function.
Integer Partitions
Calculate some statistics related to integer partitions.
Kubernetes Quiz
This quiz tests your knowledge of Kubernetes commands and concepts.
Networking Quiz
This is a quiz about networking concepts.
Puppeteer: Figlet Fonts Debug
Debug a test suite for an app in vanilla JS which provides an interface to an ASCII font API.
Puppeteer: Find Mutual Parent
Use the Puppeteer library to find the closest mutual parent of n DOM elements.
Quantitative Reasoning Quiz
This quiz is intended to test your quantitative reasoning skills.
React: Expandable List Debug
Debug a simple component that lets a user make lists of text items.
Spring Boot: PathVariable Debug
In this challenge, debug a misbehaving GET route in a controller.
Terraform Quiz
This quiz tests your knowledge of HashiCorp's Terraform tool.
Vue: Click Counter
Create a simple Counter component in Vue which responds to click events.
Vue: File Tree
Create a component that renders a collapsable file tree structure.
Vue: File Tree Debug
Debug a component that renders a collapsable file tree structure.
Wordle Colorizer
Implement the Wordle colorizer algorithm.
Bug Fixes
Improved score reporting in emails & webhooks
In the past, it was possible to occasionally get the wrong score in an email or webhook. We've corrected this issue.
February 14, 2022
Introducing a few new features for Q&A challenges, new reports, and some new challenges.
Features
Challenges By Topic Pivot Report
For advanced report users, we have added a new report that allows reporting on challenges based their topic.
Challenges Performance & Uniformity Pivot Report
For advanced report users, we have added a new report that allows you to understand overall challenge performance, code similarity and solution homogeneity.
Randomize Q&A Question Order
If you are concerned about candidates sharing question answers, randomizing the question order can make this more difficult. When enabled, each candidate will see the entire set of questions in a randomized order. That order will be consistent for the candidate (returning to the quiz later will show the same order).
You can now choose plain text multi-line and long-form essays for free-text answer formats. These new options enable a few more use cases for Q&A challenges.
Build a calculator UI for a provided custom expression parser in React Native.
Redis
This is a simple starter template for Redis challenges.
December 9, 2021
New challenges oh my! Just in time for the holidays, we have published a large set of new challenges including React Native, Django, Express JS and more!
Challenges
Align Parentheses Vertically
Align parentheses vertically in a SQL query string.
Configuration File Parser
Write a configuration file parser.
Django: TODO API
In this challenge, you'll create a simple CRUD API that tracks tasks you plan to do.
Django: TODO API Create User Debug
Fix a broken view in Django.
Django: TODO API Foreign Key
In this Django challenge, your task is to add a foreign key to a model to associate TODO tasks with users.
Django: TODO API LoginRequiredMixin Debug
In a Django API, your task is to fix some routes which should be protected but aren't.
Django: TODO API with Pagination
Add pagination to a simple REST API for tracking tasks to do.
Express: Record Store API
Using the defined Mongoose schema and models, implement CRUD actions for an API which offers JSON responses.
Express: Record Store API Authentication
Build a basic authentication system for a record store application by creating routes for signing up users and allowing them to log in and out.
Express: Record Store API Mongoose Models
Implement a Mongoose Schema for three Models according to the given definitions.
Front end: Google Sheets Employee Table
Pull data from a Google Sheet and display it on a web page in a table.
Inside Out Array Traversal
Write code to iterate over the elements of an array from inside to out.
Java Quiz
This is a quiz on various facets of the Java programming language.
Making Change (Go Debugging)
Debug a small function that is randomly failing.
Making Change: Part 2 (Go Debugging)
Debug an algorithm that isn't giving the correct answer.
Nested Configuration Structure to YAML (easier version)
Iterate through a nested structure to populate a template.
Nested Configuration Structure to YAML (harder version)
Iterate through a nested structure to populate a template.
OOP: Cancelable Queue
Implement a queue with a cancelation feature.
React Native: Calculator
Build a calculator application with custom expression parser in React.
React Native: File Tree
Create a component that renders a collapsable file tree structure.
React Native: Spelling Fixer
Create a component that uses an API to automatically correct misspelled words.
React Quiz
Try your hand at a quiz on many aspects of the React user interface library.
React: Calculator (easier version)
Build a calculator UI for a provided custom expression parser in React.
React: File Tree (debug)
Debug a component that renders a collapsable file tree structure.
SQL: Latest Wiki Articles
Find the latest version of an article in a database.
SQL: Wiki Article Versions
Fetch a collection of edits to a particular article from a database.
Staggered Linked List
Convert a singly-linked list to a _staggered_ link list.
jq: Filter Inner Array
Write a jq filter to select a subset of an inner array without modifying its enclosing object.
jq: Filter Parent Array Based on Child Properties
Write a jq filter to select parent elements based on the values of certain inner properties in a nested structure.
jq: Nested Key Totals (harder version)
Write a jq filter to sum a series of inner properties in a nested structure.
jq: Nested Key Totals (easier version)
Write a jq filter to sum a series of inner properties in a nested structure.
Assessments
Evidence Engine Showcase
This is a selection of challenges meant to showcase Evidence Engine.
December 1, 2021
We have been hard at work on these game changing platform upgrades. These features are so big, we are releasing them as beta first to continue collecting feedback so we can get them just right.
If you would like to be part of our beta program for either feature, please reach out to our sales team via our in-app messenger.
Features
Evidence Engine Beta
Configurable score cards, powerful weighting and points allocation, subscores, and highly detailed report cards. This is the biggest upgrade to our platform in years! The Evidence Engine ushers in a new era of evidence-driving evaluations on the Qualified platform.
Auto-complete, linting and more. Now when working on project challenges, candidates will be able to get rich feedback as they work, just like they would in their own desktop IDEs!
September 21, 2021
Features
Code Diffing
You can now diff candidate code from its starting point, allowing you to see exactly what was changed. You can find this feature within the Solution Review dialog, by navigating to an assessment and clicking View Details by a solution, or by starting a review.
This feature is particularly useful for Project Code Challenges, where it can be hard to determine what of many files are the same and which have edits.
August 30, 2021
Features
MS SQL 2019
MS SQL (aka Microsoft SQL Server) 2019 has been added as a SQL option for SQL classic code challenges. Create a new classic code challenge and select SQL as you language. From here you can use the version dropdown to select "MS SQL 2019".
Improvements
Postgres 13
In addition to Postgres 9, we now support version 13 for SQL based classic code challenges.
Webhook Events: Recent Response
The recently added Webhook events UI has been updated to show the most recent REST response. This can be useful for debugging what your server is returning to Qualified when webhooks are being sent.
August 13, 2021
Features
Realtime Active Candidate Counts
We have made improvements to how we handle real time data in our app. As part of this mostly background related change, we have also introduced a small but useful feature. From the dashboard you can now see how many candidates are actively taking an assessment. When clicking on the active candidates count, you will be taken to the "Join Interact Session" dialog where you can choose to join any of the active sessions taking place.
Challenges
Computer Architecture Quiz
This quiz is an overview of computer architecture concepts and MIPS assembly.
Front end: JavaScript Quiz
Try a quiz on the ins and outs of vanilla browser JavaScript and ES6.
Rails: Record Store Token Authentication
In this challenge, you'll add new routes to an existing API to manage authentication, then apply your new authentication scheme to protect a set of previously-public routes.
React Native: Assembly Line
Build an application that enables items to be moved through a series of stages.
React Native: Post Fetcher
Create a React Native component with a button to fetch posts from an API and a simple search feature.
Spelling Checker
Write a GET request to hit an API and determine if a word is misspelled.
Assessments
Mobile: React Native Pre-screen
This assessment involves writing a couple of simple components as a test of your React Native skills.
Mobile: React Native Primary Assessment
This assessment involves creating two miniature React components: an ordered list and a productivity application prototype. You'll also provide a written response to a prompt to reflect on the code you wrote.
July 15, 2021
Big webhook improvements, a new way to inspect solutions, and several new challenges & assessments are all included in this release!
Features
Inspect Solutions: Make temporary modifications and run code when reviewing solutions
Inspect Solution buttonHave you ever been reviewing candidate or student code, and wanted to get a deeper look into why their code was failing? With our new Inspect Solution feature, you can easily do just that.
Simply click the new button when looking at a solution's details, and you'll be able to edit the code and run both the original tests and the submission tests. This feature opens up several new use cases:
Use this feature to get deeper insights into where the developer might have made mistakes.
Verify issues with running code (especially code that might be experiencing intermittent issues, such as due to random test cases).
Share a screen with the candidate or student later for review.
Use this to open solutions on a projector to discuss with your team, allowing quick edits and testing theories.
But wait, there's more!
Not only can you edit the final solution, you can use this feature to inspect any moment in the playback timeline! With this additional feature, you can dig into where a student or candidate might have had trouble that led them down a wrong path.
Multiple Webhook Endpoints
Along with the other improvements to webhooks, we now support multiple endpoints, so you can configure different services to handle different webhooks—or even multiple services to handle the same webhook events!
Webhook Manager
You can now manage your webhooks with our new advanced webhook interface. Within this interface, you can not only control your webhooks with finer control, you can also see previous events, find failed events, and re-run them whenever you want.
Challenges
Testing: Greeter (Jest)
Write unit tests for a simple greeter function in Jest.
Testing: Greeter (RSpec)
Write unit tests for a simple greeter function in RSpec.
Assessments
Back-End: ExpressJS Take-Home
Work with NodeJS and Express to write a web-scraping app that serves data on an endpoint.
Back-End: SQL Primary Assessment
In this assesment, you'll write a few SQL queries.
DevOps: Pre-screen
In this assessment, you'll write a shell script and a SQL query to showcase your skills.
DevOps: Primary Assessment
Try an assessment designed to test your core scripting and SQL skills.
June 15, 2021
Our largest release of the year, this deployment includes many new under-the-hood improvements, design changes, bug fixes, and preparation for lots of new work that's coming up!
Features
All New Stats and Insights for assessment results
We've replaced our old stats with a much more powerful stats and insights functionality. This new tool is available inside the solutions dialog (seen when you are looking at solution details or reviewing a student or candidate).
It not only provides detailed statistics that are far more effective than our old solution, it also uses our proprietary engine to automatically surface insights into how the candidate thinks and works.
We're very excited about this feature, and this is just the beginning of what we have planned for it.
Email-based authentication for candidates & students on public assessments.
For public assessments, we've switched our old authentication system for a more effective and easier-to-use system that relies on simple email links, rather than expecting students or candidates to add a password.
This change will only affect public assessments, as any candidate arriving using one of our invitation links will automatically be authenticated.
Improvements
A more accurate dashboard funnel chart
We've made some changes to make the dashboard funnel chart more accurate.
Assessment results export data now includes candidate remarks
It's now possible to export the feedback your candidates have given through our data export feature. Go to team settings, navigate to "Data Export", and choose your settings for which assessment result data you wish to download.
Many behind-the-scenes updates to how data is presented
We've made several major changes to how our data is stored and presented, which should lead to performance improvements and more.
This change makes loading lists of data, such as candidates or challenges, much more efficient. We're also using this data change to improve the kinds of information we can show, and will continue to lead to new features later on.
New Challenges listing
Bringing the challenges listing up to par with the candidates and assessments listing, we've updated the challenges listing to provide more information with a space-efficient design.
This new design showcases more useful information while allowing more challenges to be visible on the screen at once.
Challenges
React Native: Counter
Create a simple Counter component in React Native which responds to press events.
React Native: Ordered List
Create a component that enables a user to create a sorted list of items.
React Native: Turbo Counter
Expand on a basic Counter component to add a step size.
Bug Fixes
Fixed issue causing resending invitations to throw a server error
Fixed multiple markdown editor scrolling together
We fixed a small bug that could cause markdown editors to scroll together.
May 27, 2021
This update brings improvements to embedded assessments and limited attempts, as well as many new challenges.
Features
Read-Only and Restricted Embedded Assessments
Bringing embedded assessments to feature parity with embedded challenges, you can now embed full assessments in a read-only or restricted state!
With this option, assessments can be reopened for candidates, but preventing them from making changes to the assessment content or results. In readonly mode, users cannot edit the assessment at all, but can run code or see the web preview. In restricted mode, users can make edits to code challenges and run tests locally, but those changes are not saved.
This feature allows for several new use cases, including:
Reopen for review: Allow candidates to review their solution without modifying the results.
Reopen in "sandbox" mode: Candidates can review and play around with their solution, without worrying about affecting the final score.
Readonly or restricted mode for reviewing: Allow team members to review solutions in an interactive mode.
Improvements
Bulk Editing in User Management
We've added the ability to change the role and/or action status on multiple team members at once. Just search through and check off the team members you want to modify, and then use the Edit Users button at the top.
We've also made it easier to invite new team members if you have a lot, by moving team member invitation to a button at the top.
Improves Submission Feedback and Limited Attempts experience
We've added more features to improve the experience with limited attempts and submission feedback.
If a candidate has remaining attempts along with submission feedback, we've put in more restrictions to ensure they complete all attempts or have no errors before submitting their assessment.
One of the big things we've changed is we no longer allow submission at all if there are remaining attempts.
Review and Final Submission screen in a Qualified assessment
Increased security of embedded assessments
Embedded assessments can no longer be opened in a new tab. Previously, a candidate could open the embedded assessment in a new tab by right-clicking in the frame and opening it in a new window. This could cause issues with the SDK attempting to manage the assessment experience, as well as allow the candidate to skirt around certain limitations.
The Embed SDK now uses a unique URL that only works when embedded, and if the URL is opened outside the frame, the assessment will not load.
Challenges
Front end: Vanilla SPA
Write a simple single page application without a framework.
Puppeteer: Find Text in Nearby Container
Use the Puppeteer library to find relative text on a page.
Puppeteer: Infinite Scroller
Use the Puppeteer library to write a test for an infinite scrolling feed in a web application.
React: Figlet Fonts
Create a component in React which provides an interface to an ASCII font API.
React: Inventory
Expand on a basic Counter component to create a simple inventory management interface.
React: Inventory with Fetch
Expand on a basic Inventory component to fetch data from a mock API endpoint.
Stem Service: Promise Caching
Fix an Express route which is supposed to efficiently serve word prefix stems from a large word list.
May 3, 2021
New responsive mode, new documentation, and a new challenge await!
Features
Web Preview: Responsive Mode
You can now use a responsive mode in Web Previews. This mode is similar to one provided by the developer tools in modern browsers. When enabled, it allows you to resize the preview window freely, to experiment with different resolutions or devices. We've added some general-purpose device profiles, the ability to type in a specific number, and even a "rotate screen" button to imitate the mobile experience.
A 'Hello React' app running in Qualified's Web Preview
To cap it off, we've added the ability to set the initial state of a web-enabled challenge to use responsive mode by default. This can be used to help guide developers to use the mode when taking an assessment.
You'll find this feature under Challenge Config, then click on Initial Layout, and set the Default Responsive Mode.
Configuration for Web Preview responsive mode in Project Code Challenges
Improvements
New Product Documentation
We've finished migrating over to our new product documentation. These new docs are more complete, and provide an improved experience when learning about our product features.
You can find the new documentation inside the application, or visit it directly at https://docs.qualified.io/
If you have any bookmarks to old documentation, have no fear, because the old links will redirect to the appropriate articles on the new site.
Assessments
Dotnet
This Dotnet assessment tests your basic C# skills.
April 21, 2021
Challenges
Find Unique Filenames
Given a text file of CSV-like filenames, determine which are unique per row.
Interleave Values
In this task, you'll write code to interleave values in a nested array structure.
Interleave Values Debug
In this task, you'll debug code which should interleave values in a nested array structure.
NumPy: Chop Array
Chop the tops off an array in NumPy.
React: Book Search Debug (written response)
Fix a search tool which should locate specific titles from a collection of books.
React: Dynamic Input Debug
Debug a component that offers the ability to add, delete and reorder input fields.
Ruby On Rails: Record Store Validations and Callbacks
In this challenge, add validations and callbacks to models in a simple record store API.
jq: Reverse Leaf Arrays
Write a jq filter to manipulate a nested structure.
March 23, 2021
Features
Deployment Notifications
When a new deployment is released, users already using the application will be notified to refresh in order to pull down the latest release.
Improvements
API: Schedule Retry endpoint now returns the relevant invitation record
When calling the schedule retry API, the assessment result is returned with an invitation field containing the new or existing invitation. You can use this information to update the invitation URL.
This allows the schedule retry API to be used instead of the invite candidates API - since previously the invite candidates API was the only way to return the relevant invitation data.
March 11, 2021
Features
Provide your own support links to candidates or students
You can now provide your own support link (to a web form or email, for example) within assessments. This link will be shown within invitation emails, when starting an assessment, and inside the Get Help link inside the assessment sidebar menu.
This link can either be a link to a website, or a mailto: link that points to an email.
Security Improvement: Only account managers are allowed to regenerate API keys
For customers using the API, security has been improved by limiting the users who are allowed to regenerate API keys. This change was implemented in order to better prevent existing integrations from accidentally being broken from a user who did not understand what they were doing.
Bug Fixes
Run output tab initial messaging
Previously it was possible for the initial state of the Run Output tab to show some confusing text. This has been fixed to clearly state what the window is and that results will show once the code is run.
March 8, 2021
Features
New API Endpoint: Assessment Results Exhibit
A new API endpoint has been added which makes it easier to consume assessment result information. This endpoint will combine key data from multiple internal models, allowing you to make only one request to retrieve useful information. If you are looking to consume API data in order to present your own results to candidates, this endpoint will be much easier to work with.
Improvements
Improved filter list performance
Improved filter lists for teams with lots of labels, assessments, or team members. If you have a lot of items in the list, not only have we improved the performance of loading these items, we've also changed the rendering to ensure a smoother experience.
Made Q&A Challenge Text Unselectable
Q&A Challenge text is no longer selectable, to make it more difficult to look up answers online.
Performance improvements on teams with large, highly active candidate & student cohorts
We've made significant improvements to the performance of the app when teams have a lot of active users.
We've changed how the initial list of candidates (students) is loaded.
We've reduced the real-time update rate to prevent a large, active group of users from causing constant updates.
We've reduced the kinds of update events we send out regularly.
We hope these changes make using the application more pleasant!
Q&A challenge UX key hints now clickable
The key hints alongside multiple choice Q&A questions are now clickable.
Bug Fixes
Fixed Project Challenges within Interact
Project challenges now reflect real-time data in Interact sessions again. We identified an issue that caused the real-time data to either not show up at all, or go stale even when the candidate makes updates.
These have been fixed, along with improvements to the frequency of updated events.
Q&A Challenge Answers Bug Fixed
We've fixed an issue where Q&A solution answers can get out-of-sync with the challenge.
March 4, 2021
Bug Fixes
API Errors due to high demand
Database connection pool was increased in order to handle higher throughput. This fixes an issue where the API was returning errors due on a subset of requests due to connection timeouts.
Labels not loading within filter dropdown
If more than 3k labels were associated with your account, they would fail to load within the filter list. A significantly higher amount of labels should now be possible.
Submission files fixed
It was previously possible for a candidate to delete a file that was left as deletable, even though it was part of the ignore path. This was causing some submissions to fail with "no tests found".
Webhooks and score data out of sync
A race condition in some rare cases was causing webhooks to be sent reporting a zero score. In addition, some candidates would show 0% as their score while their assessment result would say 100%. This has been corrected and any impacted data has been repaired.
February 24, 2021
We've added a new feature to make Automated Workflows even more useful!
Features
New Automated Workflow Action: Immediate Retry
We've added the ability to immediately trigger an assessment to reopen within an automated workflow. The most common use case for this would be if you wanted to make sure a student has passed all the challenges before moving on.
Combined with a custom message, this provides a clean experience for having the student continue working on their assessment.
You can also configure the immediate retry to use Retakes (if enabled on your Team). In this case, the candidate or student would be asked to try again, from a clean slate.
February 16, 2021
New activity log lets you see everything your candidate has been doing, helping with identifying areas where candidates struggle within your assessments.
Features
Activity Log
When you are viewing a candidate's assessment results, you can now open their activity log. This log allows you to see all the steps a candidate has taken along their assessment journey.
Activity Log button in Qualified's UI
You can also use this log to see previous takes (if this feature is enabled on your account), or even the candidate's complete history across multiple assessments.
Activity Log modal
Bug Fixes
Fixed issue with updating project challenges and candidate submissions.
There was a rare issue where candidates could have trouble submitting project challenges that had been updated.
In these scenarios, non-editable submission tests could be updated in a non-compatible manner with the candidate's existing solution. In these cases, if the candidate was still working on the challenge, their local tests would pass, while their submission tests would fail.
This fix preserves the original tests from when the candidate started the challenge.
Web Previews now work with 3rd-party cookies disabled
Web previews should no longer throw an error when 3rd-party cookies are disabled under modern browsers. Due to a recent security enhancement in common browsers, 3rd-party cookies are often disabled by default. We've changed the infrastructure around our web preview server to prevent this issue in most situations.
January 26, 2021
Our first big feature release of the year includes the ability to retake assessments from scratch, improvements to reopening assessments, improvements to the assessment report, and more!
Features
Assessment Retakes
Introducing a new feature for Qualified, you can now enable your candidates to retake assessments from the beginning.
This feature is designed to allow for multiple complete attempts on the same assessment. Unlike the basic reopen experience, this feature will create an all-new assessment result for the candidate, letting them start the entire assessment over from scratch. The old assessment result data will be historically preserved.
By default, this feature is disabled on your account, since it's not going to be used by everyone. If you'd like to use it, simply head over to your team account management page, turn on Enable Assessment Retakes, and click SAVE.
Once enabled, you can visit any candidate with a submitted assessment result, and use the Reopen or Retake button. In the invite dialog, you'll have a new option, Retake the assessment. When the candidate visits the assessment link again, a new copy of the assessment will be created and the candidate can start over.
We're still working on providing a way within the UI to see previous assessment results, but old assessment results are available within the API. Contact your sales representative if you'd like to learn more.
You can now include the hide parameter when making requests to the share endpoint within the API. This ensures that hidden sections cannot be overridden, as these parameters are signed into the secure token.
Blind Reviewer accounts can now use the Interact feature. Note: this still does not expose the candidate's name or email to the reviewer within the app.
Reopen Improvements
When reopening an assessment for a candidate, you are now given the ability to configure more options. The process has also been improved in small ways, such as:
The assessment result remains in the submitted state until the candidate returns to the page, ensuring a more consistent experience for the candidate and more accurate tracking of assessment state.
You can choose to add all the invitation options, since reopening and inviting a candidate now have the exact same workflow.
Reopening can now be replaced with Retakes, if that feature is enabled on your account.
Bug Fixes
Fixes ability to preview project challenges with hidden files
Project challenges with hidden files had a small bug with running code. This has been fixed. Note that this only affected previewing challenges within the main application, and did not affect candidates.
Missing Project Code Solution data added to web hook payloads
Data related to project code solutions were not being included in web hook payloads, when classic code and quiz solutions were.
December 28, 2020
Improvements
Challenge & Assessment Server Side Report Filters
For reporting users, you now have the ability to filter certain reports by challenge or assessment, allowing you more control over which data is being reported on.
This is particularly useful if you have a lot of candidates, and are hitting issues with too much unrelated data being sent from the server. Since reports restrict the number of records you can return, you can end up with data you don't need while older data that is relevant is omitted from the results. Now with server side filters, you can reduce the records returned to make the data more useful towards your specific reporting needs.
December 1, 2020
A small release as we near the end of 2020 with an improvement to reopening assessments and a few new front-end challenges.
Improvements
Reset challenge timers when reinviting candidates
You can now easily reset challenge-level timers when reinviting a candidate. This makes it easy to allow a candidate to attempt any timed challenge that they may have not gotten to due to outside factors.
This option is available in two location: when using the REOPEN FOR CANDIDATE button, or when inviting a candidate to the same assessment. In both cases, you'll find a slider to reset any challenge level time limits.
(Note that this won't allow a candidate to re-take a Q&A challenge with per-question timers.)
Challenges
Front end: On-screen keyboard (CSS)
Add positioning to an on-screen keyboard component using CSS.
Front end: On-screen keyboard (greenfield)
Create an on-screen keyboard using vanilla JS.
Front end: On-screen keyboard (new functionality)
Add functionality to an existing on-screen keyboard component.
