The GO Programming (Short) assessment is designed to evaluate candidates' and employees' knowledge and skills in writing, debugging, deploying, and maintaining programs in Go, covering syntax, structure, and common design patterns. It measures proficiency across six key areas: Core Syntax, Data Types, and Control Flow; Functions, Methods, and Interfaces; Data Structures including Structs, Slices, Maps, and Arrays; Error Handling; Concurrency with Goroutines and Channels; and Packages, Modules, and Tooling. The test assesses practical skills such as working with Go's standard libraries, managing dependencies with go mod, writing and running tests, and using command-line tools like go build, go run, go fmt, and go vet. It also evaluates understanding of advanced concepts including type assertions, type switches, embedding, and defer statement execution order.

The assessment uses a variety of question formats, including Multiple Choice, Multiple Correct Answer, and Essay Composition questions, and draws from a large question pool to minimize the risk of cheating. One or more questions are scored with the assistance of artificial intelligence, and certain questions include individual time limits to further deter cheating and to enhance the predictive accuracy of results.

The specific attributes measured include:

Following completion, the test produces a Candidate Selection Report that includes an overall score and detailed scores for each attribute.

The Candidate Selection Report also provides expert interview questions that help you probe critical or low-scoring areas, along with a guide for noting your evaluation of the candidate's responses. Consistent use of an interview guide is an important part of gaining better candidate insights and making better hiring decisions.

Note that while the GO Programming (Short) assessment is a useful and efficient instrument for confirming a base level of skill or knowledge about this important topic, it is not intended to pinpoint the exact level of candidate or skill. We recommend that skills tests, like this one, be used in parallel with other measurements, such as cognitive ability, job fit, and behavioral history. Each different type of test provides a valuable piece of information you can use when evaluating potential job performance.