October 2024 Release Notes

We’re excited to announce that our October 2024 product release is live! Key updates include support for Azure hands-on assessments, improved automatic question replacement with a new AI-based engine, enhanced autocomplete for coding questions, and a redesigned IDE layout for a distraction-free environment.

If you need any help navigating these new features, email us at support@hackerrank.com or contact your account manager.

Screen

Improved Automatic Question Replacement

In the last release, a feature was introduced to automatically replace questions in a test with questions with similar difficulty levels and required skills. The enhanced replacement algorithm now provides greater granularity, considering parameters such as the concepts assessed, the median time to achieve a full score, and the number of candidates who have tried the question. This ensures that the replaced question even more closely matches the original. 

Refer to HackerRank Certified Assessments for more information. 

Integrity

Improved Plagiarism Detection Insights 

The revamped codeplayer gives reviewers more context when a candidate is flagged for plagiarism. Now, you can see detailed reasons for why a candidate was flagged, along with the specific time frame where potential suspicious activity may have occurred. 

This update provides clearer visibility into candidate behavior and helps identify unwarranted use of AI tools in assessments, displaying three types of signals to recruiters: 

• Potential reference taking: The candidate is inactive for a certain amount of time between answering the question, and then there is a sudden non-stop coding activity.

• Suspicious code resetting: The candidate removed and replaced a large piece of code that had already been written.

• External Copy Paste: A large amount of code was copied over from an external source.

Enable AI Plagiarism Detection and refer to Viewing Flagged Attempts for more information. 

Interview

Tab Renaming in Interviews

You can now rename individual tabs within our Interview platform, providing greater flexibility in organizing your interview sessions. Whereas previously tabs were given a default name, such as “Coding 1,”  you can now customize tab names to better represent the given task, such as “Problem Solving” or “System Design,” making it easier to navigate different stages of the interview and maintain a clear overview.

Refer to Introduction to HackerRank Interviews for more information.   

Developer Experience

No More Plagiarism Warning Pop-Ups

Candidates will no longer experience pop-up warnings when attempting to copy-paste from an external source or switch tabs during a test, minimizing interruptions during the assessment. Although candidates will no longer see pop-up notifications during tests, integrity guidelines will be provided on the pre-test instruction page, and suspicious activity signals will continue to be reflected in the candidate report and data export.

Refer to Proctoring HackerRank Tests for more information.

Upgraded Coding Languages to Latest Versions

All popular coding languages have been updated to their latest market versions, ensuring candidates can access the most up-to-date tools and features for their coding assessments. This isn't a one-time upgrade—going forward, the platform will continuously stay on the latest versions, keeping the coding environment on the cutting edge.

See the Execution Environment page for more information about supported languages and versions.

Improved Autocomplete Functionality for Coding Questions

The autocomplete functionality in coding questions has been enhanced, providing a faster, more reliable experience across multiple programming languages. This update delivers an intuitive coding environment that helps developers code more efficiently and accurately.

Key Highlights: 

• 10x performance boost in autocomplete latency in Java from 3 seconds to just 300 milliseconds. Significant improvements in other LSP features have also been made for coding languages.

• Get real-time prompts when a package isn’t imported in Java, even before you run your code.

• Expanded IntelliSense support for external packages in Java, Kotlin, C#, and C++.

• Auto-Imports is enabled for 11 Languages. 

Optimized IDE Layout

The optimized IDE layout offers a practical, distraction-free coding environment. Question descriptions are embedded directly within the IDE, allowing candidates to focus on coding while keeping the descriptions easily accessible without taking up extra screen space. We have also added dark mode support for the IDE.

Before: IDE layout with limited coding space

After: IDE layout with collapsible question description and more coding space.

Refer to Taking Front-end, Back-end, and Full-stack Developer Assessments for more information. 

Data

Faster User Data Export with Additional Data

We have upgraded the user export feature to provide faster performance and more detailed data. The data download now takes less than 3 seconds, and the exported CSV file includes the following additional columns:

• Department Name

• User Created Date

• Sign-In Count

• Locked Date

• Questions Created

• Tests Created

• Test Invites Sent

• Interviews Participated In

• Interview Invites Sent

Custom Question Export

Admins can now export detailed reports of custom questions from the "My Company" tab under the library. The export includes key information such as question ID, Question Name, Author, Created Date, Question Type, Difficulty Level, Scores, Number of Attempts, and more. This feature enables you to review, audit, and manage questions created by their users.

Improved Data Accuracy with GDPR Compliance

The insights dashboard has been enhanced to ensure accuracy even when data is deleted due to GDPR. It now includes active and fully anonymized GDPR-deleted data, allowing aggregated metrics—such as total invites, total attempts, and more—to reflect the complete historical picture.

Improved dashboards include: 

• Test insights

• Test usage

• Question insights

Refer to📄 Test Insightsand 📄 Question Insightsfor more information.  

Enhancements to Test Data Download Export

Specific columns in the Test Data Download are reordered for ease of data consumption. The export will now have five additional columns:

• Attempt Count (Lifetime): Represents how many times a candidate has attempted the same test if invited multiple times, irrespective of the selected period during report download.

• Total Questions Asked: The total count of questions presented to a candidate in a test.

• Percentage of Questions Answered: The proportion of questions answered by the candidate out of the total questions asked.

• At Least 1 Question Answered: Shows whether the candidate answered at least one question.

• All Questions Answered: Shows whether the candidate answered all the questions.

Enhanced Test Listing Export

The test listing export now includes a new column, "Total Leaked Questions," which displays the number of leaked questions in each test. This update lets you quickly identify which tests contain leaked questions and require question replacements when downloading the export.

Integrations

Rebuilt Eightfold-HackerRank Integration

The latest HackerRank-Eightfold integration delivers a more streamlined and efficient experience. It allows you to manage assessments and interviews from a single unified application, reducing complexity, minimizing errors, and improving overall workflow. Additionally, all future Eightfold integration updates will flow directly to this application, ensuring you can always access the latest features and improvements. 

The new app is available on the Eightfold marketplace, and existing users will need to connect to it to access these updates manually.

Refer to 📄 Eightfold - HackerRank Integrationfor more information.  

iCIMS Bulk Assessment Inviting

The bulk assessment inviting feature lets you simultaneously send test invitations to hundreds of candidates from iCIMS. Once enabled, moving candidates to the bulk invite status triggers automatic invites for the default assessment on the job requisition. Candidate completion statuses and results are automatically updated in iCIMS, enabling easy progress tracking without manual effort.

Additionally, the recruiter who initiates the invites will receive a report informing them of the status of each invitation, helping ensure full visibility into the process. This integration workflow is built on a robust system for efficiently handling high-volume assessment invites.

To enable this feature, reach out to support@hackerrank.com.

Refer to📄 iCIMS - HackerRank Integration Guidefor more information.  

Admin

Bulk Add/Remove Users to Teams

Admins can now bulk add and remove users from teams, even across multiple pages, making managing large groups easier for both team and company admins. A new dropdown menu consolidates bulk actions, allowing admins to easily add, remove, lock, unlock, and export selected users.

Refer to Bulk User Management for more information.  

Skills

Azure Hands-On Questions

You can now assess candidates by adding Azure hands-on questions from the HackerRank library to your tests. With this new Cloud skill offering, candidates can complete tasks directly in the Azure Portal using a temporary account provided by HackerRank. For example, they might be asked to set up a Virtual Network and configure Network Security Groups or host a website using Azure Web Apps. Once completed, their work is automatically scored and logged in the test report.

Azure Questions in HackerRank Library

Candidate Experience 

Refer to📄 Assessing Candidates for Azure Skillsfor more information.

Library Updates

The HackerRank Library has undergone a significant expansion, introducing many new questions and enhancing our content offerings to serve your assessment and hiring needs better.

Highlights

• Coding Tasks: 243 coding challenges designed to assess practical programming skills and algorithmic thinking.

• Projects: 119 projects that simulate real-world scenarios, enabling candidates to demonstrate their ability to manage and execute complex tasks.

• MCQ: 747 new multiple-choice questions to test theoretical knowledge and problem-solving abilities.

Updated Job Families

The latest content enhancements focus on the following key job families to ensure comprehensive and relevant assessments:

• Software Engineering

• Web Development

• Cloud

• Cybersecurity

• Data Engineering

• Mobile Development

Added Skills

A diverse range of 77 distinct skills has been integrated across these job families, providing robust and specialized evaluations to match current industry demands.

Explore the complete range of questions in the HackerRank library and gain insights into various HackerRank roles.

Engage

Enhanced Email Customization

You can now fully customize invite and reminder emails within Engage. The updated email editor includes new variables, such as invite and microsite links, and offers advanced formatting options like font size, style, and color. These enhancements allow you to tailor your email content

Refer to📄 Create an Eventfor more information. 

SkillUp

Role Insights

Offers managers a comprehensive overview of their team’s certification progress and performance for specific roles. This section enhances visibility over skill development, ensuring developers can achieve their learning and certification objectives. This page is divided into two tabs:

• Insights: Provides an overview of certification metrics for a specific role, showing the percentage of developers certified and those who have attempted certifications. It also features a funnel chart to track developer progress through each stage: invitation, attempt, and completion.

• Developers: This section displays detailed information on individual developers’ certification status, scores, due dates, and recent activity. Managers can filter, sort, and take actions like sending reminders or adjusting due dates to effectively track and support the team’s progress.

Assessment Details Panel

The new assessment details panel empowers managers to foster their team's professional growth. It provides a comprehensive overview of each team member's skill development journey, allowing managers to effectively see progress on certifications, oversee learning objectives, and manage due dates. Enhancing visibility into individual progress enables managers to guide their teams in their continuous learning and career advancement. This feature helps managers navigate professional development pathways.

Transparent Certification Results

Developers can now view a comprehensive overview of their certification performance, including a breakdown of each skill assessed, individual scores, the number of test cases passed, and the time spent on each section. This detailed feedback helps developers understand their strengths and areas for improvement. Once certified, they can download their certificate from within the results panel.

Reminders and Due Date

With new certification management controls, managers can proactively send reminders or adjust due dates as needed. This ensures that developers stay on track with their skill development and can complete certifications at their own pace. When a developer completes their certification, the system notifies managers and excludes the developers from reminder emails. This feature is accessible from the Developers tab within the role and skill details sections.

Prompt Engineering

The new Prompt Engineering skill lets developers level up their AI expertise. As a developer, you can write, test, and submit prompts using an easy-to-use editor built into the certification assessment. The skill includes learning resources to get you started, a practice test to refine your skills, a beginner-level badge, and a final certification to prove your proficiency. Perfect for anyone looking to dive deeper into AI and showcase their knowledge! 

HackerRank Community

Improved Problem-Solving Mock Interviews

In April, AI-powered mock interviews for basic problem-solving were launched, and invaluable feedback was received from hundreds of developers. The new and improved mock interview includes:

• Pinned and Structured Coding Questions: Coding questions are now better structured, and divided into clear sections: “Problem Statement”, “Function Description”, “Returns”, and “Constraints” for better understanding. Even as developers interact with the interviewer bot, the coding questions they must solve are automatically pinned to the chat - no more endless scrolling. 

• Realistic Interviewer Responses: Interviewer dialogues and questions are more concise, closely mimicking a real interview experience.

• Improved Feedback Screen: After completing a mock interview, enjoy a redesigned feedback screen with detailed performance insights and an option to leave feedback on your experience

AI-powered Front-end (React) Mock Interviews 

A new mock interview experience that provides you with tailored interview prep.

Designed for aspiring front-end developers, this React-focused mock interview offers a unique experience with a customizable VSCode IDE, available for the first time in our product. Practice coding in a familiar environment and interact with our enhanced interviewer bot for a realistic interview simulation.

QuickApply Chrome Extension

The QuickApply Chrome extension removes the hassle of applying for jobs by automatically populating your details, work history, and more on online application forms.

The extension detects form fields on job application pages and inserts stored data from your HackerRank account in seconds. 

The extension can now fill out job applications hosted on five top ATSs: Lever, Greenhouse, Workday, Avature, and SmartRecruiters, using your HackerRank profile information. Since its initial launch, hundreds of developers have used QuickApply to apply to thousands of tech jobs worldwide.

Resume Builder

HackerRank’s Resume Builder allows developers to revamp their professional resumes instantly. Import your existing resume (in PDF format) into the tool, and the AI-powered resume reviewer provides instant, detailed feedback in key areas such as grammar, formatting, and overall presentation. This feature is active for 2% of the Community and will soon be expanded to additional users.

All of the above HackerRank Community features are in limited availability and are enabled for a small subset of our users. If you'd like to enable the same for your HackerRank account, please reach out to Community Support.

That's all folks! Thank you for reading our October release notes. To review previous releases or Submit Ideas for future enhancements, check out our What's New page.