Skip to main content

DBT Stage

What this stage is​

The DBT Stage evaluates candidates on their proficiency with analytics engineering workflows. Candidates are tasked with building, documenting, and testing data transformation models within a real-world dbt project environment.

When to use it​

Incorporate a DBT stage when:

  • Hiring Analytics Engineers, Data Engineers, or Data Analysts.
  • Your data stack relies heavily on dbt for transformations.
  • You need to evaluate a candidate's ability to manage complex data lineages and documentation.

Configuring the Stage​

When creating an assessment, you can add a DBT stage to define the technical environment and challenges.

  • Select Challenge: Choose a pre-configured DBT challenge from the CoderScout Library or your own repository.
  • Environment Details: Challenges automatically provision the necessary database connections and dbt runtimes.
  • Standard Settings: Define the Duration, Start Deadline, and Progression Score as detailed in the Stage Settings page.

DBT Stage Settings

Candidate Experience​

Integrated DBT IDE​

Upon starting the round, candidates are provided with a dedicated IDE optimized for dbt projects.

  • Project Structure: A complete dbt project file explorer for managing models, seeds, and snapshots.
  • SQL Editor: A powerful editor for writing modular SQL transformations.

DBT Candidate Experience

Command Console & Database Access​

Candidates can execute dbt commands (dbt run, dbt test, dbt seed) directly within the integrated console. They also have access to a database query panel to verify the results of their transformations in real-time.

DBT Console & Database Panel

Administrative Insights & Evaluation​

Dashboard Analytics​

The DBT stage dashboard provides visibility into candidate progression. It surfaces overall scores and highlights submissions that require manual review or final validation.

DBT Dashboard Overview

Forensic Performance Timeline​

Recruiters can audit the candidate's development process through a detailed event timeline. This view logs:

  • Command Execution: Exactly when dbt commands were triggered and their results.
  • Behavioral Signals: Interaction events such as tab switching and copy-paste attempts for proctoring purposes.

DBT Detailed Timeline View

Proctoring & Evidence Review​

Similar to other technical stages, the timeline page provides direct access to Evaluate Recordings. Organizations can review synchronized webcam and screen-share footage to verify the authenticity of the candidate's submission.

DBT Evidence Recordings

Key Benefits​

The DBT stage ensures a specialized evaluation for modern data teams:

  • End-to-End Workflow Testing: Evaluate the entire analytics engineering lifecycle, from raw data to documented models.
  • Automated Quality Checks: Instantly verify results using built-in dbt tests and custom validation scripts.
  • Standardized Environments: Eliminate "it works on my machine" issues with consistent, cloud-provisioned dbt runtimes.
  • Behavioral Integrity: Monitor development patterns and interaction signals to ensure assessment authenticity.
  • Scalable Data Evaluation: Assess proficiency in building modular, maintainable, and well-documented data pipelines.