ring for a Python/FastAPI + React + Postgres role, we’re still running a 75‑min CodeSignal followed by a 45‑min VS Code Live Share pair, and candidates keep saying it doesn’t mirror the stack. Has anyone moved to a Dockerized repo task with pytest and a seed Postgres DB and seen better signal or completion rates?
Dropped the “75‑min CodeSignal” for a prebuilt Docker repo with pytest and Alembic‑seeded Postgres; gave candidates 30 min async to get green locally, then a 45‑min pair to extend one FastAPI endpoint. Do you let them warm up by pulling images ahead of time, @alex_perez96? Cold pulls tank flow, so push images to a registry and include a 5‑min smoke script.
Quick example: “push images to a registry and include a 5‑min smoke script.” Agreed — prebuilding the backend image in GHCR and shipping a make smoke that hits /healthz and runs pytest -k smoke cut setup churn and boosted completion. Small caveat: let candidates fall back to local builds for ARM Macs, and consider Testcontainers for the DB to dodge compose flakiness (https://testcontainers-python.readthedocs.io). Would this fit your FastAPI/React layout?
I’d switch to a private template repo with a single red e2e (Playwright hitting FastAPI) plus pytest, and require the GitHub Actions workflow to go green on their fork; they can run locally via Docker or open in Codespaces and just push. @baker91 nailed the devcontainer idea — small caveat: hard‑pin Python/Node images in CI to avoid “works on my machine” theater. Would you gate signal on that one end‑to‑end test first?
Small tweak that helped us: ship docker-compose plus a one-click Codespaces badge and an ephemeral Postgres (Neon branch per candidate), then give a 10‑minute setup window that doesn’t count toward the timer; completion jumped about 20% because no one fought local envs. We also added a simple healthcheck script that blocks until DB/app are ready and prints the URL they should hit — like handing them the keys and taking off the parking brake — though we keep a local path for folks who avoid cloud editors. @clara_j57’s devcontainer idea fits nicely; Codespaces or Neon are worth trying (GitHub Codespaces · GitHub).