Screening is the first filter: deciding who deserves an interview before anyone spends an afternoon on it. ViewSkill does it from the code developers actually shipped, so you know what they can do before the first call.
What is developer screening?
Developer screening is the first step of technical hiring: a quick check of whether a candidate plausibly has the skills a role needs, done before technical interviews and take-home tests. Its job is not to prove someone is great. Its job is to stop weak matches early and make sure the people who reach your engineers are worth their time.
Traditionally screening means reading a CV and a LinkedIn profile, which tell you what someone says they can do. Code-based screening reads what they have actually built: public repositories, commit history, the languages and frameworks they use, and how recently they used them.
Is 30 seconds really enough?
For a full assessment, no, and we don't claim it is. Thirty seconds is enough for a screening: a reliable read on whether someone has really worked with your stack, how deep that work goes and whether it is recent.
That is the decision screening has to make. Depth comes after, from a coding test or a technical interview, and only for the people who passed the first filter.
Screening vs coding test vs technical interview
| Code-based screening | Coding test | Technical interview | |
|---|---|---|---|
| When it happens | Before any contact | After a first call | Final rounds |
| Time per candidate | About 30 seconds | Hours for the candidate | An hour or more of an engineer |
| Who can run it | Any recruiter | Recruiter sends, tool grades | An engineer |
| What it tells you | Real stack, depth, recency | Skill on one task | Depth, reasoning, fit |
| Candidate effort | None | High | Medium |
How to screen developers without an engineer
- 01
Write down the must-have stack
Two or three technologies the role cannot do without, for example TypeScript, React and Node.js. Everything else is a nice-to-have. - 02
Check the code, not the CV
Paste the candidate's GitHub link into ViewSkill, or describe the role to find new candidates. You get a 0 to 100 score and every skill rated from Familiar to Expert, with the repositories behind each rating. - 03
Read the verdict
A plain-English summary says whether the candidate fits and why. Skills with no code behind them are marked as claimed, not verified. - 04
Send a test to the shortlist only
For candidates who pass, send one of the 9 role-specific take-home tests. It is graded automatically, so engineers only meet people who already proved the basics.
What the screening reads
Repositories
What the developer built, how big and how complete it is, and how many people use it.
Commit history
How often and how recently they write code, so a skill used five years ago is not rated like one used last month.
Languages and frameworks
The stack actually used across their projects, matched to the skills your role needs.
Depth and quality
Score = 50% skill match + 35% repository depth + 15% code quality. A skill at level 3 of 5 or higher is marked Verified.
Where screening stops
Candidates without public code on GitHub cannot be screened this way. Send them a coding test instead: it gives you a comparable score.
A screening is a reason to talk to someone, not a hiring decision. Your team keeps the interview and the final call.