Getting Started With CoderPad: Candidates

This document is for candidates who are going to be interviewed on CoderPad. If you’re going to be conducting an interview, please check out our getting started guide for interviewers.

Hi there! You’re probably reading this because you have an upcoming interview on CoderPad and you want to make sure you understand how things work. We’ll keep it short and sweet.

CoderPad is a platform for doing technical phone screens or remote interviews in the browser, like Collabedit or Google Docs, with one major difference: we let you run the code as you write it.

Here’s what a CoderPad session looks like:

It’s pretty simple. You write code in the left pane, and when you hit Run the output is displayed in the right pane.

For certain languages, the right pane also includes an interactive REPL.

The Reset button clears the output in the right pane, but leaves the code you’ve written in the left pane intact.

CoderPad also supports built in video calling. You will have the opportunity to select your webcam and audio inputs before the call starts.

Customizing editor settings (yes, we have Vim keybindings)

If you hit the Settings button in the lower-right corner, you can turn on/off a variety of settings. By default, most settings are disabled, so if you want code autocompletion for supported languages, bracket auto-closure, a unique tab size, larger font size, a lighter color theme, or to change your keybindings from normal “sublime-esque” to Vim or Emacs, you will need to click the Settings button during your interview.

Don’t worry about messing up your interviewer’s view, either! They can adjust their own settings from their side.

Programming Languages and Testing

We support many of the most commonly used programming languages. We also have autocomplete, unit testing suites and other libraries for many of them (like Java).

For the languages that support autocomplete, you may need to toggle autocomplete to “Enabled” from the Settings menu during your interview if you want it.

If you’re curious about the details or want to know if we offer your favorite testing framework or library, please check it out on the languages page!

Language information will also be available to you during your interview. To access it, all you have to do is click the Info button next to the language name at the top of your pad.

Drawing Mode

Interviewers may enable Drawing Mode in a pad to describe a system or diagram an architecture. When you are in plaintext the drawing will appear as a full screen. When you are in execution mode the drawing will appear on the right side of your screen. For more detailed instructions on using Drawing Mode check out our user guide.

Try it out ahead of time!

Each company creates their own unique interview questions, so you won’t find any practice questions on our site.

However, we encourage you to click on over to the Sandbox (you can also find a Sandbox button on the left side of your dashboard and give the editor a try with your own code!)

The Sandbox gives you a session that’s identical to a real CoderPad interview - the only things it doesn’t have are multiple users and saving the session.

With your Candidate account, you have unlimited access to the Sandbox to practice as much as you’d like.

Final Notes

Remember, don’t sweat it during the interview - CoderPad is here to make your life easier. You can run your code at any time, and use the output to get yourself unstuck.

If you have any questions or concerns about how things work in CoderPad, feel free to email us at support@coderpad.io - we’re happy to help!