The Great Resignation: Overcoming Talent Assessment Challenges

Are you worried about the great resignation in tech? This is a problem that is affecting businesses all over the world. But don’t worry, there are things that you can do to prevent it from happening in your organization. In this blog post, we will discuss the great employee resignation and look at some tips on how to avoid it.

First of all, let’s first understand what exactly is the Great Resignation –

The tech industry benefits from an abundance of fresh talent supply annually. However, more than 4 million people in the US alone quit their jobs in 2021- a record number, and this mass exodus isn’t unique to America. One survey found that 41% (or 11 out 15) global workers were considering their exit during 2021 according to Microsoft’s data – which means it could very well continue in 2022 as well. In another study, 39 out of 50 countries surveyed saw higher rates of employee resignations.

So what’s the reason for this Great Resignation?

Well, there isn’t any single particular factor but research shows that it is largely due to “workplace frustration“. This can have a lot of different sources and meanings, but in most cases, it mostly includes workplace culture and environment and being overworked. It could also be due to low compensation or because of negative relationships with co-workers and/or management. And let’s not forget about job dissatisfaction! LinkedIn published a study where they found out that 79% of millennials confessed to being unhappy at their jobs.

What do the statistics say?

A 2021 study by Bankrate showed that 52% of employers noticed a greater number of employee resignations within six months of joining. Moreover, 89% were concerned with how this would impact their business and 28% claimed that they had already lost some clients due to this problem.

When asked which generation is most likely to quit their jobs, more than half (55%) of the respondents said Generation Y or millennials. And if you thought that’s bad enough, more than one-third (35%) believe that employee retention will be even worse in 2022!

How the Great Resignation affected the tech industry

The Great Resignation significantly impacted the tech industry, reshaping how companies approach talent management and acquisition. Tech professionals, enjoying a market flush with opportunities, have become more selective about their employment choices. The reasons for this shift are multifaceted:

Seeking Better Work-Life Balance: Many tech professionals have started prioritizing roles that offer flexibility, remote work options, and a better balance between personal life and work.
Demand for Higher Compensation: With the tech industry booming, skilled professionals are aware of their market value and are seeking higher compensation and benefits.
Career Advancement Opportunities: Tech professionals are looking for roles that offer clear pathways for career advancement and skill development.
Cultural Fit and Values: There is an increasing emphasis on finding companies whose values align with their own, especially regarding innovation, diversity, and corporate responsibility.
Impact of Pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many to reassess their career goals and seek jobs that provide more security and satisfaction.

This shift requires tech companies to reevaluate their talent acquisition strategies, focusing more on employee engagement, retention programs, and creating an attractive company culture to combat the high turnover rates.

Here is how you can avoid the Great Resignation at your company

Put an emphasis on employee well being

To combat the high rates of burnout-fueled employee resignations at your company, giving workers time off and expecting them to take it when they need it isn’t enough. Travel options remain limited so people may feel there’s no excuse for using their vacation days while others might believe that the work culture encourages always being present (despite new findings of how this can affect health).

Employees need the time to focus on their mental and emotional well-being. Many workers face a lack of fulfillment regardless of whether they are paid fairly or have tasks to perform. Organizations that provide employees with opportunities to be creative, build social connections at work, or do work on passion projects within the organization will see happier workers who are more committed.

Hybrid and flexible work options

While many employees prefer being in the office, a lot of them work remotely as a result of personal commitments and circumstances. While remote working allows employees to be productive even when they’re not in the office, some people prefer interacting with their co-workers in person.

The past 16 months are proof that remote (or at least hybrid) working is the future! A recent survey shows 39% of the workers would consider quitting if employers weren’t flexible about remote positions. Among millennials (aged 18–34) this figure sits higher still at 49%. The trend towards virtual teams paired up nicely via technology means less time spent commuting each day which also helps improve company productivity overall.

Retaining talent in roles that can’t be performed from afar is becoming increasingly difficult. Some companies are looking for new amenities to offer their employees, hoping this will help create a sense of balance and preserve stability within the workplace.

The need has become so urgent because workers who spend all day commuting every week may find themselves with little free time when they arrive at home after work – unless there’s another meeting or conference call during what would traditionally qualify as “free” hours.

Reward loyalty

To attract the best workers, employers should offer competitive compensation packages. You have to pay people enough so they don’t think about money when deciding if working for your company is worth it. Try giving out one-time bonuses as well as student loan repayment assistance and work-from-home options. Employees love to feel appreciated by their bosses, so take the time to show appreciation via bonuses, promotions, or even just a simple email.

Focus on the big picture

While there are endless reasons why people choose to resign, lack of opportunities for growth or advancement is a major one. Make sure you regularly discuss career paths with employees and help them grow within your company. You also need to have a smooth and memorable onboarding process so the new hires feel like they’re part of something great from day one! No matter how many perks you offer, if they don’t feel welcome and a part of the team, your company will almost always have to deal with a high resignation rate.

Recommended read: 7 Ways To Reduce Burnout In Your Tech Teams

Provide opportunities for growth

Employers should create retention strategies to keep top talent around by pretending their best employees just handed in resignations and asking themselves what they could do that would change the person’s mind. Forward-thinking organizations have been doing interviews like this since last month—with each employee advising on where things can be improved or future opportunities offered up.

Care for your employees as well as their families

To retain their employees, employers should make provisions for the physical as well as mental well-being of the employees and their dependents. This can include but is not limited to, medical insurance, discounts on gym memberships, access to a network of mental health resources, maternity and paternity leaves, etc. They can also help parents of small children by providing child care assistance programs or paid time off (PTO).

Be sure to review your company’s policies

Hiring and onboarding processes can make or break your business. It is not only important to go over all of the policies and processes related to hiring and onboarding but also to follow through with them without exception.

You also need to create an environment where these talented individuals feel comfortable speaking up about issues in the workplace. Finally, once the employees are hired, employers need to ensure they have ongoing training programs so that employees can learn and upskill throughout their time at your company.

Recommended read: A Note On Our New Leave Policies

Analyze the blind spots within your system

Look at metrics such as compensation, time spent between promotions (i.e., number of years), location(s) of the company, function/size pay increases over one’s career path, etc. to identify problems that might be causing your employees to quit.

When trying new ideas or programs keep an open mind and remember that there will always come those within our organizations who aren’t happy no matter where they work!

Retain your top talent with HackerEarth

Here is how you can keep your top talent using HackerEarth:

Continuous assessments

Skill Evaluation: HackerEarth enables managers to continuously keep assessing employee skills and team members’ skill development. This helps employers address potential problem areas with the help of specific metrics.
Learning and Development: Keeping employees up to date with the latest technologies and trends is a must. HackerEarth’s learning and development assessment tool helps employers stay ahead of the curve and improve the overall productivity of their workforce.
Employee Engagement: Employee participation is key to overall organizational success. HackerEarth’s gamification tools help employers engage their talent with real-time feedback, on-the-go assessments as well as Hackathons – reducing overall employee resignations.
Competency Mapping: Competency mapping is the foundation for any successful organization. HackerEarth’s unique competency mapping tool helps employers in identifying, developing, and retaining talent by optimizing every hiring decision that gives great ROI.

HackerEarth is a platform that connects organizations with skilled developers and helps them participate in major hackathons. This is done by providing access to qualified talent without the need for any bandwidth or environmental drain, as well as hosting challenges specifically designed for a virtual space!

HackerEarth virtual hackathons:

When it comes to assessing employee skills by running a successful hackathon, there is no better place than HackerEarth. HackerEarth has the experience and knowledge needed for all phases of conducting these events at scale across different industries.

HackerEarth is the only curated hiring company that guarantees you’ll get all of your engagement needs without any bandwidth drain.
With the HackerEarth platform, you can manage your virtual hackathons or hiring challenges from anywhere in the world and even at scale.
Working with HackerEarth means working in one of the largest communities for qualified developers.

The great employee resignation in technology is a growing problem that has been affecting businesses all over the world. Luckily, there are things you can do to prevent it from happening in your business. Follow the steps above to stop the Great Resignation from affecting your organization.

Revolutionizing Mobile Talent Hiring: The HackerEarth Advantage

The demand for mobile applications is exploding, but finding and verifying developers with proven, real-world skills is more difficult than ever. Traditional assessment methods often fall short, failing to replicate the complexities of modern mobile development.

Introducing a New Era in Mobile Assessment

At HackerEarth, we're closing this critical gap with two groundbreaking features, seamlessly integrated into our Full Stack IDE:

Now, assess mobile developers in their true native environment. Our enhanced Full Stack questions now offer full support for both Java and Kotlin, the core languages powering the Android ecosystem. This allows you to evaluate candidates on authentic, real-world app development skills, moving beyond theoretical knowledge to practical application.

Say goodbye to setup drama and tool-switching. Candidates can now build, test, and debug Android and React Native applications directly within the browser-based IDE. This seamless, in-browser experience provides a true-to-life evaluation, saving valuable time for both candidates and your hiring team.

Assess the Skills That Truly Matter

With native Android support, your assessments can now delve into a candidate's ability to write clean, efficient, and functional code in the languages professional developers use daily. Kotlin's rapid adoption makes proficiency in it a key indicator of a forward-thinking candidate ready for modern mobile development.

Breakup of Mobile development skills ~95% of mobile app dev happens through Java and Kotlin — This chart illustrates the importance of assessing proficiency in both modern (Kotlin) and established (Java) codebases.

Streamlining Your Assessment Workflow

The integrated mobile emulator fundamentally transforms the assessment process. By eliminating the friction of fragmented toolchains and complex local setups, we enable a faster, more effective evaluation and a superior candidate experience.

Old Fragmented Way vs. The New, Integrated Way — Visualize the stark difference: Our streamlined workflow removes technical hurdles, allowing candidates to focus purely on demonstrating their coding and problem-solving abilities.

Quantifiable Impact on Hiring Success

A seamless and authentic assessment environment isn't just a convenience, it's a powerful catalyst for efficiency and better hiring outcomes. By removing technical barriers, candidates can focus entirely on demonstrating their skills, leading to faster submissions and higher-quality signals for your recruiters and hiring managers.

A Better Experience for Everyone

Our new features are meticulously designed to benefit the entire hiring ecosystem:

For Recruiters & Hiring Managers:

Accurately assess real-world development skills.
Gain deeper insights into candidate proficiency.
Hire with greater confidence and speed.
Reduce candidate drop-off from technical friction.

For Candidates:

Enjoy a seamless, efficient assessment experience.
No need to switch between different tools or manage complex setups.
Focus purely on showcasing skills, not environment configurations.
Work in a powerful, professional-grade IDE.

Unlock a New Era of Mobile Talent Assessment

Stop guessing and start hiring the best mobile developers with confidence. Explore how HackerEarth can transform your tech recruiting.

A New Era of Code

Vibe coding is a new method of using natural language prompts and AI tools to generate code. I have seen firsthand that this change makes software more accessible to everyone. In the past, being able to produce functional code was a strong advantage for developers. Today, when code is produced quickly through AI, the true value lies in designing, refining, and optimizing systems. Our role now goes beyond writing code; we must also ensure that our systems remain efficient and reliable.

From Machine Language to Natural Language

I recall the early days when every line of code was written manually. We progressed from machine language to high-level programming, and now we are beginning to interact with our tools using natural language. This development does not only increase speed but also changes how we approach problem solving. Product managers can now create working demos in hours instead of weeks, and founders have a clearer way of pitching their ideas with functional prototypes. It is important for us to rethink our role as developers and focus on architecture and system design rather than simply on typing c

The Promise and the Pitfalls

I have experienced both sides of vibe coding. In cases where the goal was to build a quick prototype or a simple internal tool, AI-generated code provided impressive results. Teams have been able to test new ideas and validate concepts much faster. However, when it comes to more complex systems that require careful planning and attention to detail, the output from AI can be problematic. I have seen situations where AI produces large volumes of code that become difficult to manage without significant human intervention.

AI-powered coding tools like GitHub Copilot and AWS’s Q Developer have demonstrated significant productivity gains. For instance, at the National Australia Bank, it’s reported that half of the production code is generated by Q Developer, allowing developers to focus on higher-level problem-solving . Similarly, platforms like Lovable or Hostinger Horizons enable non-coders to build viable tech businesses using natural language prompts, contributing to a shift where AI-generated code reduces the need for large engineering teams. However, there are challenges. AI-generated code can sometimes be verbose or lack the architectural discipline required for complex systems. While AI can rapidly produce prototypes or simple utilities, building large-scale systems still necessitates experienced engineers to refine and optimize the code.

The Economic Impact

The democratization of code generation is altering the economic landscape of software development. As AI tools become more prevalent, the value of average coding skills may diminish, potentially affecting salaries for entry-level positions. Conversely, developers who excel in system design, architecture, and optimization are likely to see increased demand and compensation.
Seizing the Opportunity

Vibe coding is most beneficial in areas such as rapid prototyping and building simple applications or internal tools. It frees up valuable time that we can then invest in higher-level tasks such as system architecture, security, and user experience. When used in the right context, AI becomes a helpful partner that accelerates the development process without replacing the need for skilled engineers.

This is revolutionizing our craft, much like the shift from machine language to assembly to high-level languages did in the past. AI can churn out code at lightning speed, but remember, “Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” Use AI for rapid prototyping, but it’s your expertise that transforms raw output into robust, scalable software. By honing our skills in design and architecture, we ensure our work remains impactful and enduring. Let’s continue to learn, adapt, and build software that stands the test of time.

Ready to streamline your recruitment process? Get a free demo to explore cutting-edge solutions and resources for your hiring needs.

What is Systems Design?

Systems Design is an all encompassing term which encapsulates both frontend and backend components harmonized to define the overall architecture of a product.

Designing robust and scalable systems requires a deep understanding of application, architecture and their underlying components like networks, data, interfaces and modules.

Systems Design, in its essence, is a blueprint of how software and applications should work to meet specific goals. The multi-dimensional nature of this discipline makes it open-ended – as there is no single one-size-fits-all solution to a system design problem.

What is a System Design Interview?

Conducting a System Design interview requires recruiters to take an unconventional approach and look beyond right or wrong answers. Recruiters should aim for evaluating a candidate’s ‘systemic thinking’ skills across three key aspects:

How they navigate technical complexity and navigate uncertainty
How they meet expectations of scale, security and speed
How they focus on the bigger picture without losing sight of details

This assessment of the end-to-end thought process and a holistic approach to problem-solving is what the interview should focus on.

What are some common topics for a System Design Interview

System design interview questions are free-form and exploratory in nature where there is no right or best answer to a specific problem statement. Here are some common questions:

How would you approach the design of a social media app or video app?

What are some ways to design a search engine or a ticketing system?

How would you design an API for a payment gateway?

What are some trade-offs and constraints you will consider while designing systems?

What is your rationale for taking a particular approach to problem solving?

Usually, interviewers base the questions depending on the organization, its goals, key competitors and a candidate’s experience level.

For senior roles, the questions tend to focus on assessing the computational thinking, decision making and reasoning ability of a candidate. For entry level job interviews, the questions are designed to test the hard skills required for building a system architecture.

The Difference between a System Design Interview and a Coding Interview

If a coding interview is like a map that takes you from point A to Z – a systems design interview is like a compass which gives you a sense of the right direction.

Here are three key difference between the two:

Coding challenges follow a linear interviewing experience i.e. candidates are given a problem and interaction with recruiters is limited. System design interviews are more lateral and conversational, requiring active participation from interviewers.

Coding interviews or challenges focus on evaluating the technical acumen of a candidate whereas systems design interviews are oriented to assess problem solving and interpersonal skills.

Coding interviews are based on a right/wrong approach with ideal answers to problem statements while a systems design interview focuses on assessing the thought process and the ability to reason from first principles.

How to Conduct an Effective System Design Interview

One common mistake recruiters make is that they approach a system design interview with the expectations and preparation of a typical coding interview.
Here is a four step framework technical recruiters can follow to ensure a seamless and productive interview experience:

Step 1: Understand the subject at hand

Develop an understanding of basics of system design and architecture
Familiarize yourself with commonly asked systems design interview questions
Read about system design case studies for popular applications
Structure the questions and problems by increasing magnitude of difficulty

Step 2: Prepare for the interview

Plan the extent of the topics and scope of discussion in advance
Clearly define the evaluation criteria and communicate expectations
Quantify constraints, inputs, boundaries and assumptions
Establish the broader context and a detailed scope of the exercise

Step 3: Stay actively involved

Ask follow-up questions to challenge a solution
Probe candidates to gauge real-time logical reasoning skills
Make it a conversation and take notes of important pointers and outcomes
Guide candidates with hints and suggestions to steer them in the right direction

Step 4: Be a collaborator

Encourage candidates to explore and consider alternative solutions
Work with the candidate to drill the problem into smaller tasks
Provide context and supporting details to help candidates stay on track
Ask follow-up questions to learn about the candidate’s experience

Technical recruiters and hiring managers should aim for providing an environment of positive reinforcement, actionable feedback and encouragement to candidates.

Evaluation Rubric for Candidates

Facilitate Successful System Design Interview Experiences with FaceCode

FaceCode, HackerEarth’s intuitive and secure platform, empowers recruiters to conduct system design interviews in a live coding environment with HD video chat.

FaceCode comes with an interactive diagram board which makes it easier for interviewers to assess the design thinking skills and conduct communication assessments using a built-in library of diagram based questions.

With FaceCode, you can combine your feedback points with AI-powered insights to generate accurate, data-driven assessment reports in a breeze. Plus, you can access interview recordings and transcripts anytime to recall and trace back the interview experience.

Learn how FaceCode can help you conduct system design interviews and boost your hiring efficiency.

The 'Great Resignation' In The Tech Industry - How To Prevent It