--- title: "Get 1/2 Year of Dev Time Back with One Simple Change - CoderPad" description: "Leaders need to find a way to optimize the costliest part of the hiring funnel: the “onsite” interview." canonical: "https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/get-almost-half-a-year-of-developer-time-back-with-one-simple-change-to-your-hiring-process/" last_modified: "2026-06-03 08:50:39" --- [Back to blog](https://coderpad.io/blog/) # Get Almost Half A Year of Developer Time Back with One Simple Change to Your Hiring Process March 4, 2021 3 Minute Read [Interviewing](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/) Time is money. And recruiting the right people takes time. But when developers are pulled away from projects to interview and assess candidates, time is also innovation and product velocity. The hiring process is a substantial, and often unmeasured, cost to the business. That’s why leaders need to find a way to optimize the costliest part of the hiring funnel: the “onsite” interview. It’s entirely possible to streamline this process and return 20+ weeks (yes, you read that right – nearly half of a year) of a developer’s time back to the business. Let’s look at some rough numbers. (These are reasonable approximations, of course, bear with me!). Assume that in one year, your tech company needs to hire 50 developers. Some will be needed due to attrition and others to fill new roles. That means you’ll have to go through the following exhaustive process: INTERVIEW STAGE | NUMBER OF CANDIDATES | HOURS OF DEV TIME – TRADITIONAL | HOURS OF DEV TIME – STREAMLINED Initial candidate screen | 1800 | 0 | 0 First technical phone screen | 600 | 900 | 600 Second technical phone screen | 300 | 450 | 300 Onsite interview | 150 | 1500 | 1050 Offers accepted | 50 | Total Hours Spent | 2850 | 1950 (Assumptions are technical phone screens are 1:1; onsite interviews involve 4 rounds of interviews – half of which involve two devs, half of which are 1:1 interviews and debrief meetings. Funnel conversion rates and total comp costs based on industry averages.) The first few stages are actually the easier part. They’re a numbers game. You’re bringing in the volume but it’s pretty low effort from the dev team (relatively speaking). Recruiting handles the initial screen and tech phone screens should be done in an hour with the right tools. Determining who should be cut and who should move to the next round moves pretty quickly, as it should. The most cost to the business comes with the onsite interview, which pulls multiple developers in to speak with candidates and participate in the evaluation process. This is where you must optimize for speed and signal. With a technical interview platform like CoderPad, it’s entirely possible to identify the best hires much faster, saving valuable time as a result. We know that candidates perform much more authentically in an environment that’s as close to the real world coding experience as possible. It’s easier to see their skills when they are working on an interview question – versus working on figuring out the tool. When your interview screening tool looks, feels, and behaves like what you’re used to, candidates can get down to business faster — and you can evaluate them more quickly and accurately. The same holds true for your developers: with an efficient, easy-to-use tool, they can save significant prep time. > When we switched to CoderPad from [alternative technical hiring tool], our developers were able to reduce their interview preparation time by 30min. Rizwan MK Sr. Director of Engineering, Netskope CoderPad code interview all In this scenario, we know we can reduce the 90-minute phone screen to 60 minutes, save three total hours for each onsite, and slice 900 hours off the heavy investment of time into the hiring process. That represents over 20 weeks of a developer’s valuable time — and $125,000 in costs — which frees them up to do what they were hired to do: code, test, ship. That means more time spent ensuring new applications are created, new software gets released, and your business moves forward. Ultimately, it means more time solving customer problems and strengthening your market position — while enhancing your ability to hire desperately needed technical talent. So why aren’t you giving your candidates and dev team better tools for interviewing? If you have questions about optimizing your technical hiring process, [feel free to reach out](https://coderpad.io/sales/). ## Subscribe for more CoderPad insights ## Trending Articles Previous slide Next slide [Interviewing ## 5 Skills of the Future Developer: A Framework for Evaluating AI Fluency According to CoderPad’s State of Tech Hiring 2026 report, 82% of developers now find GenAI useful — up from 76% just a year ago. More telling: 54% of developers would experience a measurable productivity drop if AI tools were removed tomorrow. AI isn’t a productivity booster anymore. It’s infrastructure. With this shift, it’s no surprise […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/5-skills-of-the-future-developer-a-framework-for-evaluating-ai-fluency/) [Hiring Developers ## Q&A: Musings of a CEO on Tech Interviews, Cheating and AI In this Q&A session on cheating and AI in tech interviews, Amanda Richardson emphasizes the importance of trust and effective interview design. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/qa-musings-of-a-ceo-on-tech-interviews-cheating-and-ai/) [Engineering Management ## How To Use CoderPad To Interview Software Architects Software architects are the masterminds behind the design and structure of software systems, ensuring that projects are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with business goals. Unlike more hands-on engineering and development roles, assessing architect skills in an interview relies much less on watching them code and more on their ability to drive software design principles and […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/how-to-use-coderpad-to-interview-software-architects/) [Hiring Developers ## “Don’t Expect Candidates to Have Everything Memorized”, the Dos and Don’ts of Cheating Prevention With Nathan Sutter Sure, you want to prevent cheating. But you also want to feel good about your hiring process. So how do you do that? Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/dos-and-donts-cheating-prevention-nathan-sutter/) [Interviewing ## Crafting Effective Technical Interview Questions: A 4-Step Guide Writing great technical interview questions can be hard. We're here to help. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/crafting-effective-technical-interview-questions-a-4-step-guide/) [Interviewing ## Viral TikTok Layoff Videos: What You Need to Know So, you’ve heard about these viral TikTok layoff videos, but you’re unsure how concerned you should be? Read about what you can learn from this content, and how it should impact your company’s HR practices. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/viral-tiktok-layoff-videos-what-you-need-to-know/) [Interviewing ## 8 Steps Recruiters Can Take to Instill Inclusivity in Tech Interviews As TA professionals, you have the power to create an inclusive interview environment for your interviewers and interviewees. Want to know how? This guide will help you. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/inclustive-technical-interview-guide/) [Engineering Management ## These 9 Red Flags Are Scaring Away Candidates During Interviews Don't let your name be dragged into a bad Glassdoor review. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/engineering-management/these-9-red-flags-are-scaring-away-candidates-during-interviews/) [Interviewing ## Best Platforms for Remote Interviews Discover how the modern employment landscape is embracing remote work and virtual interviews. Dive into the capabilities of platforms like Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meets for general use, and explore specialized options like HireVue, Codility, and CoderPad for technical hiring. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/best-platforms-for-remote-interviews/) [Interviewing ## Why One-Way Video Interviews Don’t Work and What You Should Do Instead Read about why one-way interviews are less promising than they seem and explore alternative methods that offer a fairer, more realistic approach to hiring. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/why-one-way-video-interviews-dont-work-and-what-you-should-do-instead/) [Interviewing ## 2 Interview Questions to Assess Your Next Intermediate Backend Engineer Looking for guidance in evaluating your intermediate backend developers? We've got the perfect solution with these two insightful questions. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/2-interview-questions-to-assess-your-next-intermediate-backend-engineer/) [Interviewing ## 3 Tips To Introduce ChatGPT Into Your Technical Interviews Integrating ChatGPT into technical interviews involves setting clear expectations, demonstrating its practical use, and acknowledging its limitations, creating a fair and realistic assessment environment that aligns with the evolving landscape of software development Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/3-tips-to-introduce-chatgpt-into-your-technical-interviews/) ## Hire with confidence. See why engineering teams trust CoderPad to evaluate developers with realistic, AI-ready hiring workflows. [Request a demo](https://coderpad.io/sales/)