Karat blog

This article is part of a larger series examining issues of access, bias, and inclusion in tech recruiting and hiring. In previous blog posts, we’ve covered how highlighting strengths is a more predictive and inclusive interviewing approach than identifying weaknesses, we shared data about how code tests undermine diversity initiatives, and we discussed the benefits […]

Last month, we explored some of the perils of automated code tests. The data shows that reliance on absolute completeness and correctness not only blocks great engineers from getting job offers, but it does so in a way that disproportionately harms underrepresented minorities and women. This should be a red flag for every organization that […]

As part of our commitment to the Black community, Karat formally launched a practice interview initiative this month, partnering with organizations like URx to help underrepresented minority students better prepare for careers in technology. This week, Wahab Owolabi, URx founder, and Facebook Diversity Business Partner, joined Karat’s Portia Kibble Smith to talk about misconceptions about […]

Last night I had the privilege of joining leaders from around the Seattle tech community at the 12th annual GeekWire Awards—the first one to ever be conducted virtually. It was great meeting the other nominees in our UX Design of the Year category, and congratulations to the team at Skilljar who won! We were honored […]

We’ve all been talking about fairness and bias a lot these past few months, and the depth at which it’s currently being discussed is long overdue. At Karat, we have been conducting research to identify sources of bias, inconsistency, and other challenges that can creep into technical interviews. This includes the Interview Gap survey that […]

Last month we shared a number of programs as part of our commitment to Black software engineers. One of these initiatives is to use our interview data and research to develop new formats that reduce bias. Today’s research shows that the emphasis code tests place on absolute completeness and correctness is failing to produce a […]

The Interview Gap manifests in different ways for different stakeholders. The Interview Gap makes it harder for organizations to reach their software engineering hiring targets. The Interview Gap places artificial constraints on the number of candidates that a company can interview, and limits the quality of those interviews. When interviewing isn’t given the time, structure, […]

A few weeks ago we connected with Claus Moberg, Roblox’s VP of Engineering, to get his thoughts on the state of hiring software engineers. One theme that came up is the impact of false positives. He noted that live first-round technical interviews showed “…a dramatic improvement over [code tests] and our own emailed questions. Without […]

By, Adam Dangoor As a candidate, some of the least enjoyable interview experiences I have had are those after which I felt that I did not get across what I could bring to the team. The interviewer didn’t walk away knowing what I could do, only what I could not do. Software engineering is such […]