The assessment takes between 40 mins and 2 hours (depending on the tech) and is a series of questions designed to probe the extent to which developers understand and can apply different discrete concepts and features of a technology. Question types range from self-reported comfort levels to code exercises to test understanding and decision-making.
Assess your team's capabilities
Skiller Whale assessments allow us to build a skill fingerprint of each person on the team, identifying any skill gaps.
Assessment structure
granular TOPIC BREAKDOWN
We have broken each technology down into 50-100 distinct topics. This heatmap shows the distribution of scores across the team by each of those individual topics, enabling you to see the specific skills your team could benefit from coaching in.
Note: in the heatmap images, only a small section of the skills and individual topics are shown.
PATTERNS OF
CAPABILITY
This heatmap shows the distribution of skills across the team, so you can quickly see whether you have the right distribution of strong and weak skills in each area.
SummarY rePORTING
We have grouped the results of the 50-100 individual topics into 8 broad areas. This makes it easier to see high level patterns across the team, and to communicate the results to non-technical colleagues.
1
Fundamentals
Competency and fluency in the fundamentals of the language or framework they are operating in.
Competency and fluency in the fundamentals of the language or framework they are operating in.
2
Security
Awareness of security considerations and ability to avoid creating security holes.
Awareness of security considerations and ability to avoid creating security holes.
3
Debugging
Rigour and efficiency in finding and removing bugs.
Rigour and efficiency in finding and removing bugs.
4
Advanced
Knowledge of advanced areas of the technology, best practices, and knowing the ‘gotchas’ to avoid.
Knowledge of advanced areas of the technology, best practices, and knowing the ‘gotchas’ to avoid.
5
Technical Debt
Ability to make smart decisions that leave projects open to change.
Ability to make smart decisions that leave projects open to change.
6
Performance
Able to consider performance trade-offs when writing code. Able to anticipate, understand, and resolve technical performance issues.
Able to consider performance trade-offs when writing code. Able to anticipate, understand, and resolve technical performance issues.
7
Testing
Able to write appropriate automated tests, and code defensively to prevent future bugs.
Able to write appropriate automated tests, and code defensively to prevent future bugs.
8
Tool Usage
Ability to use key tools that are commonly combined with the technology being assessed.
Ability to use key tools that are commonly combined with the technology being assessed.
Diagnostic Report
The radargraph visualises a summary of the results in a way that can be shared with non-technical people.
Opposite is example report data showing growth in the areas assessed from before coaching to after 3 months.