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Stages & Stage Lifecycle

Stages: The Building Blocks of Assessments​

In CoderScout, a Stage represents a single, focused evaluation step within a hiring workflow.

Stages are most commonly experienced in the context of Assessments, where candidates progress independently through a sequence of stages based on their performance. While the same stage types can also appear in Contests, the full lifecycle and flexibility of stages is best understood through Assessments first.

Every Assessment is simply a structured sequence of stages.

What a Stage Defines​

Each stage answers four critical questions:

  • What is being evaluated? (stage type)
  • When can the candidate start?
  • How long can the candidate work on it?
  • What happens after submission?

By making these explicit, CoderScout removes ambiguity from hiring decisions.

Stage Lifecycle (Assessment Context)​

A stage in an Assessment follows this lifecycle:

  1. Stage becomes available to the candidate
  2. Candidate must start the stage within an optional start window
  3. Stage runs for the configured duration
  4. Candidate submits or is auto-submitted
  5. Score and AI Score are generated
  6. Progression decision is applied

This lifecycle enables assessments to run with minimal manual intervention.

Start Deadline (Optional but Powerful)​

In Assessments, each stage can optionally enforce a deadline to start.

What this means​

  • Once a candidate qualifies for a stage, they must start it within a defined time window
  • If they do not start in time, the stage expires for that candidate

This does not reduce the time available to complete the stage once started.

Why this exists​

  • Prevents stalled pipelines
  • Removes the need for follow-ups
  • Keeps assessments running on auto-pilot

Start deadlines are especially effective for early screening stages.

Stage Duration​

Stage duration defines how long the candidate can work after starting the stage.

  • Timer begins on start
  • Runs continuously
  • Auto-submits when time expires

This is enforced uniformly across all stage types.

How This Differs in Contests​

In Contests:

  • Stages are started by supervisors
  • Timers are global for all candidates
  • Start deadlines are not candidate-controlled

These constraints exist to ensure fairness at scale.

Key Takeaway​

Stages in CoderScout are designed to be flexible and candidate-driven in Assessments, enabling structured, evidence-based hiring without scheduling overhead.