Technical Interviews, Coding Tests, and Skills-Based Tech Hiring

Employers may use technical interviews, coding tests, work samples, or other job-related assessments alongside education, industry certifications, and work history. These procedures let an employer observe selected skills directly, while the degree provides context about formal study. The design and weight of the assessment vary by role and employer.

University of Phoenix technology programs include program-specific coursework and assessments documented in the Academic Catalog. For example, the current BSIT and BSCS both include capstone courses. Students can use relevant completed coursework and projects as examples when discussing their skills, but completion of a course or capstone does not establish performance on an employer’s technical assessment.

What technical interviews and coding tests are

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission describes employment selection procedures broadly to include tests, interviews, work samples, and other tools used in employment decisions [1]. In technology hiring, an employer may adapt those methods to the job’s actual tasks:

• Coding tests or online assessments, where a candidate solves programming problems under defined conditions.

• Take-home projects or work samples, where a candidate builds or completes a task that mirrors real job work.

• Structured technical interviews, where an interviewer asks role-specific technical questions or walks through a problem with the candidate.

• Systems or design discussions, where a candidate reasons through how they would architect or secure a system.

A technical interview or coding test may be designed to observe a subset of job-related tasks in a controlled setting. The employer’s actual assessment design, scoring, and validation determine what the procedure measures.

How assessments relate to job-relevance and validity

Employers do not have unlimited latitude in how they design and use selection procedures. The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, adopted jointly by the EEOC, the Department of Labor, the Department of Justice, and the Office of Personnel Management, set out principles for selection procedures used in employment decisions, including that procedures should be job-related and, where they operate to screen candidates unevenly, supported by validity evidence [2]. The EEOC similarly advises employers to ensure that employment tests and selection procedures are job-related and consistent with business necessity [1].

For a candidate, the practical takeaway is that well-designed technical assessments are meant to test skills the job actually requires. A coding test aligned to a software engineering role, or a scenario-based exercise aligned to a security analyst role, is intended to reflect the tasks in that role. That alignment is why occupational skill and task frameworks matter: they describe what the work involves, which is the same territory an appropriately designed assessment measures.

What technical assessments tend to measure

The skills probed in technical interviews map closely to the competencies described in federal occupational data. O*NET catalogs role-specific skills, knowledge areas, and technology skills for technology occupations. For software developers, this includes programming, critical thinking, and complex problem solving, along with technology skills spanning development environments and languages [4]. For information security analysts, it includes knowledge of computer hardware and software, systems evaluation, and technologies used to protect networks and data [3].

For cybersecurity roles, the NIST NICE Workforce Framework offers task, knowledge, and skill terminology that can inform how an assessment is scoped [7]. It is a reference taxonomy, not proof that a particular employer formally uses the framework.

BLS identifies typical education for these occupations, while EEOC guidance addresses job-related selection procedures [1][5][6]. A particular employer may consider both education and assessment evidence, but the cited sources do not establish one universal weighting model.

Where an online tech degree fits in a skills-based process

A degree documents formal study, while accreditation is a separate status verified for the institution or program. A technical interview or coding test observes performance on selected tasks. Coursework with applied projects or labs can give a candidate concrete examples to discuss, but no course guarantees assessment performance.

Coursework that includes applied projects, labs, or capstone work can produce examples a candidate is able to discuss in a technical interview. The University of Phoenix Academic Catalog documents program requirements, course descriptions, and assessments for University programs [8]. A candidate should connect the specific work completed to the assessment or role rather than assume any course guarantees interview performance.

Skills-based hiring does not mean degrees no longer matter in technology roles. Federal labor data shows that many technology occupations still commonly list a bachelor’s degree as typical entry-level education, and employer requirements vary widely by role, seniority, and organization [5][6]. What skills-based practices do is add a direct look at capability. A candidate who can both meet an education requirement and perform well on role-relevant assessments is presenting evidence on more than one dimension.

Preparing for role-relevant assessments

Preparation should be tied to the specific role’s documented tasks and the employer’s stated assessment process. O*NET, BLS, and NICE can help identify relevant topics, but they do not reveal the exact content of an individual employer’s test [3][4][5][6][7].

Several factors shape how assessments are used from employer to employer:

• Role and seniority. A junior role, a mid-level engineering role, and a specialized security role often use different assessment formats and depth.

• The specific tasks the role requires. The closer an assessment is to real job tasks, the more it reflects the job-relevance principles in the EEOC guidance and Uniform Guidelines [1][2].

• The employer’s overall process. Some employers weight assessments heavily; others treat them as one input among interviews, references, credentials, and experience.

What technical interviews do not determine on their own

Technical interviews and coding tests are one part of employer evaluation, not proof of a hiring outcome. Selection procedures inform decisions, but hiring depends on the full picture an employer considers, including the requirements of the role, the candidate’s experience and credentials, the interview process, and labor-market conditions.

It is equally inaccurate to treat technical assessments as evidence that employers universally favor or discount any particular education path, including online degrees. Employer evaluation practices vary by role and organization, and the reliable way to understand what a role requires is to examine the role’s documented tasks and skills, the employer’s stated requirements, and the assessment the employer uses. Framed that way, a technical interview gives a candidate a chance to demonstrate role-relevant capability, with a degree and other credentials providing supporting context in the employer’s decision.

Sources

1. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Employment Tests and Selection Procedures - https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/employment-tests-and-selection-procedures

2. Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (29 CFR Part 1607) - https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XIV/part-1607

3. O*NET OnLine, Information Security Analysts (15-1212.00) - https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1212.00

4. O*NET OnLine, Software Developers (15-1252.00) - https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1252.00

5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers - https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm

6. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Information Security Analysts - https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/information-security-analysts.htm

7. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NICE Framework Resource Center - https://www.nist.gov/itl/applied-cybersecurity/nice/nice-framework-resource-center

8. University of Phoenix, Academic Catalog - https://www.phoenix.edu/online-degrees/academic-catalog.html