Ace the Technical Assessments

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Explain the purpose of technical assessments.
Summarize how your test performance is assessed.
Prepare for and understand what the HackerRank Take-Home Assessment is.
Navigate the Virtual Technical Interview Loop with confidence.

Technical Assessment Milestones

Salesforce splits technical assessments into two parts:

Part 1: The HackerRank Take-Home Assessment
Part 2: The Virtual Technical Interview Loop

Together, these milestones give us a clear view of how you think, build, and communicate as an engineer.

Part 1: The HackerRank Take-Home Assessment

Successful Salesforce engineers write strong code. The take-home assessment is designed to show us exactly how you work. We use HackerRank as our coding platform. Taking the test is less about how you react under pressure and more about how you think and build as an engineer.

Take the HackerRank Test

When you reach this milestone, HackerRank sends you a separate email invitation. The email includes your allotted time limit and a link that expires in seven days. You choose a time when you can focus without interruption.

Before you start, we recommend taking a HackerRank sample test to learn the setup and question style. We also recommend reviewing the HackerRank FAQs.

For the best test-taking experience, use the latest version of Google Chrome or Chromium, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. The timer starts when you click the link, so make sure you’re ready before you begin. If a problem prevents you from finishing, such as a lost internet connection or a technical issue, email your recruiter right away. They reply during normal working hours.

Your Exam Proctor

All Salesforce engineering assessments use HackerRank’s Proctor Mode (with the exception of Slack role assessments). This AI-powered feature is designed to simulate live human proctoring to ensure a fair, consistent experience for every candidate. We encourage you to tackle your assessment the same way you’d approach any real engineering problem—authentically, thoughtfully, and with your full attention. Additional details are provided in the actual test invitation, but here’s a general outline of what you can expect.

What to Expect from Proctor Mode

Automatically enabled: This feature runs automatically once your test begins. It monitors for activity that may indicate the use of unauthorized assistance, like switching browser tabs, copying and pasting from external sources, or unusual activity patterns.
More details: Review the proctoring information in your HackerRank test invitation before you begin.

If you wish to opt out of HackerRank’s Proctor Mode, please contact your recruiter directly.

How to Approach the Assessment

Set up your environment: Keep it quiet and distraction-free. Bring the same setup you’d bring to any high-stakes technical work.
Read the problem description: Take your time with the full problem before writing anything.
Handle ambiguity: Use your best judgment on unclear directions, then use the "notes" section to explain any assumptions you made.
Run your tests: Running tests within HackerRank to check accuracy does not count against you.
Watch the timer: Upload the entire project and submit your solution before the time expires.

Pre-Submission Checklist

Ensure your program compiles and executes: Verify it runs according to the problem description, with all working parts and without any bugs.
Confirm your solution is correct: Make sure you solved the problem and that the output is accurate.
Test a range of input combinations: Check how your program handles edge cases and unexpected inputs.
Check your design and efficiency: Does your solution use good design techniques, and data structures/algorithms that let it run as efficiently as possible?
Review readability: Ensure your code is well-formatted with sufficient comments, so a reviewer can quickly tell how it’s organized and what each class/method is doing.
Write your automated tests: Confirm that you have written automated tests.
Polish your solution: Once operational, use any remaining time to refine and clean up your work.

How We Evaluate Your Submission

We evaluate the HackerRank submission as if you are writing an actual application for deployment. We prioritize these criteria:

Correctness: Your program compiles (interprets) and executes according to the problem description, without any bugs.
Scale awareness: Your coding solution (data structures, algorithms, how your program is organized) was created with a cost-effective strategy and has the ability to work at high volume/scale.
Design quality: Your program exhibits good design techniques for UX. The test solution specifies what input the program needs to take and which output is expected. Tip: Show that you can write a well-designed, object-oriented program.
Code quality: Your code is well-formatted and easy-to-read, including a sufficient number of comments.
Quality mindset: You wrote automated tests, and your code is structured in a testable way, with good design techniques throughout.

At Salesforce, we’re less focused on your knowledge of a specific language and more interested in how you’d perform as a working engineer in a real development environment.

Part 2: The Virtual Technical Interview Loop

The Virtual Technical Interview Loop includes several live video conversations with Salesforce engineers. Conversations are designed to go deeper into your coding proficiency, problem-solving approach, and system design thinking.

What to Expect

Live coding via HackerRank Interviews: If your loop includes a live coding session, it’s facilitated directly through HackerRank’s interview platform. You share your screen and solve problems in real time while your interviewer follows along.
System design discussions: This is a whiteboard-style conversation where you architect a system, walk through trade-offs, and defend your decisions.
A mix of both: Some roles include multiple technical sessions covering different areas.

Your recruiter confirms which session types are included in your specific loop before you begin.

Live Coding Environment

If your loop includes a live coding session via HackerRank Interviews, here’s what to expect and how to approach it.

Unlike the HackerRank Assessment, your interviewer is present and following your thinking in real time over a shared screen. That changes the dynamic. How you think out loud matters as much as the solution you arrive at. Keep that in mind as you work through the problem:

Read the full problem first: Rushing to code signals poor problem decomposition habits.
Restate the problem in your own words: Confirm your understanding with the interviewer before you begin.
Talk through your approach out loud: Interviewers are evaluating your thinking process, not just your output.
Start with a working solution, then optimize: A correct, but unoptimized answer is better than an incomplete elegant one.
Discuss time and space complexity proactively: Don’t wait to be asked.
When you hit a wall, say so: Talk through how you approach getting unstuck. Honesty under pressure is a positive signal, not a weakness.

Whiteboarding at Salesforce

System design sessions and any design-focused conversations in your Virtual Technical Interview Loop happen on a shared canvas.

Here’s how to make the most of it:

Ask your recruiter what tool is used: This allows you to practice using it beforehand. Most whiteboards/canvases are intuitive, but having familiarity is helpful.
Use the space to think visually: Diagrams, flow charts, and annotated sketches are all fair game.
Don’t worry about polish: Interviewers are evaluating your thinking process, not your design skills.
Narrate every decision: Your interviewers are not mind readers. Practice your presentation method so your rationale is just as clear as your output.

How to approach system design questions:

Clarify the scope before you start designing. Ask about scale, constraints, and priorities.
Think out loud about trade-offs. Consider consistency vs availability, latency vs throughput, build vs buy.
Ground your design in Salesforce culture. Trust is our #1 value and ensuring safety and reliability at scale are non-negotiable.
It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers. Structured thinking and intellectual honesty matter more than a perfect design.

Not all roles include a system design component in the Virtual Technical Interview Loop. Your recruiter confirms what to expect for your specific role.

Use AI to Prepare for Your Assessments

At Salesforce, we encourage all candidates to use AI in their general interview prep. When you use AI as a technical study partner, ask it to:

Generate practice problems at your target difficulty level and quiz you on time and space complexity.
Explain concepts you’re uncertain about. Then you can explain them back in your own words to test your understanding.
Review your solutions and identify edge cases you missed.
Simulate a technical interviewer. For example, “Ask me a medium-difficulty algorithm question and evaluate my answer.”

These tips on using AI apply to your preparation before assessments begin. AI tools are not permitted during the live HackerRank assessment and HackerRank Proctor Mode monitors for unauthorized use throughout.

Summary

Now you know that the HackerRank assessment and the Virtual Technical Loop are where your engineering skills take center stage. Take your time, think out loud, and approach problem-solving with curiosity and honesty.

After you finish the test, the Engineering interview team reviews your submissions, evaluates your code, and learns more about your skills.

Now that you’re familiar with the Salesforce Engineering interview process, what we look for, and how to prepare for every stage, all that’s left is to take action. If you haven’t taken the first step yet, explore open engineering roles and apply today—or bring these best practices into your upcoming conversations. We can’t wait to build with you!

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