CSPA

CSPA is a San Francisco-based company that has created a test for software engineers which can be a measure of career readiness, fundamental technical abilities, and applicable real-life skills. The test is vetted by the Technical Steering Committee (TSC).

The assessment covers seven broad areas:

• Algorithms, data structures, and programming
• Front-end web development
• Back-end web development
• Operating systems, networking, and tools
• Systems design, architecture, and infrastructure
• Database and storage systems
• Security

There are two types of assessment: normative and qualitative. The normative assessment ranks test-takers against each other and the qualitative indicates if the candidate is well-prepared for a specific role.

Job candidates can utilize CSPA for various purposes. Most careers in the field of software engineering require technical interviews and when a candidate has their CSPA results, they can avoid doing repetitive technical interviews. Candidates with exceptionally high scores could benefit from having companies and recruiters contacting them, which would decrease the amount of time looking through job advertisements.