// Round 03 · Build async · ~30 min review · 25 credits
Take-home assessment.
Build a realistic assignment on your own time, then defend your decisions in a live review.
The take-home is two interviews in one: the assignment, and the conversation about it. Many candidates do the first well and stumble on the second. Hardmode gives you a scoped, realistic brief, lets you build it on your own time, then runs the review call where a reviewer reads your submission and asks why you made the choices you made.
Scope
What this round covers
- Scoping a brief and stating assumptions in a README
- Project structure, naming, and test coverage a reviewer will read
- Explaining tradeoffs and what you’d do with more time
- Extending your own code live when the reviewer asks for a change
Session
How the session runs
01 —
The brief
From the question bank, matched to the role, or your own brief if you have one to rehearse.
02 —
Build
Work in your own environment, at your own pace, and submit when you’re done.
03 —
The review call
A live session where the reviewer walks through your submission and asks you to defend and extend it.
Personalised
Fitted to you
Your CV
Matches the brief to the stack and seniority on your CV and in the job. Optional, and you can switch it off for any session.
Your difficulty
- Easy: A friendly interviewer who wants you to do well.
- Medium: A fair, professional interviewer. What most interviews feel like.
- Hard: A proper grilling, like a big-tech bar-raiser loop.
Review
What your feedback covers
- What a reviewer would notice first in your submission
- Where your explanation did your code justice, and where it could do more
- Tests, error handling, and documentation worth adding next
Detailed and supportive at every difficulty · No score, no verdict
Prep
Tips before you start
- Write down assumptions as you make them; they become your README.
- Timebox. A finished, tested core beats a half-built everything.
- List what you would do next. Reviewers ask.
// Next round
The rest of the loop
// Player 1
Get ready for hard mode.
Paste the job you want. Run the loop until the real one feels like a rematch.
20 free credits · No card required