Python Skills Assessment Kit

Assessment

Web Framework Fundamentals

Target

Backend Engineers (Junior-Mid)

Time Limit

30 mins

Task

Build a basic FastAPI app with a single endpoint that accepts a POST request with JSON payload and returns a validated response.

Evaluation Criteria

• Correct FastAPI syntax

• Use of Pydantic for input validation

• HTTP status codes and error handling

• Bonus: Unit test included

Scoring (out of 10)

• Functionality: 4

• Clean code/style: 2

• Validation: 2

• Bonus tests: 2

Assessment

DevOps Automation

Target

DevOps/Site Reliability Engineers

Time Limit

45 mins

Task

Write a Python script to:

• Deploy a Docker container

• Run a health check on a specified port

• Log the output and shut down container on completion

Evaluation Criteria

• Docker SDK or subprocess use

• Script robustness

• Logging and exception handling

Bonus

Add config via argparse

Scoring (out of 15)

• Automation works: 5

• Logging & errors: 3

• Script structure: 4

• Bonus CLI config: 3

Assessment

Data Science Pipeline

Target

Data Scientists

Time Limit

60 mins

Task

Given a CSV of sales data, clean the dataset, generate summary stats, and build a linear regression model predicting revenue.

Tools Allowed

Pandas, Scikit-learn

Evaluation Criteria

• Data cleaning strategy

• Feature selection and model choice

• Code structure and documentation

• Output interpretation

Scoring (out of 20)

• Cleaning: 5

• Modeling: 6

• Clarity & output: 5

• Bonus visualizations: 4

Assessment

API Design Exercise

Target

Mid-Senior Backend Devs

Time Limit

45 mins

Task

Design a RESTful API spec (no code) for a messaging platform. Include:

• Endpoint structure

• Authentication/authorization

• Payload and response formats

• Error handling

Evaluation Criteria

• REST compliance

• Clear separation of concerns

• Secure/authentication design

• Error codes and edge case coverage

Scoring (out of 10)

• Completeness: 3

• REST principles: 3

• Security: 2

• Thoughtfulness: 2

Assessment

Real-World Debugging

Target

All levels

Time Limit

20 mins

Task

Provide a broken Python script and ask the candidate to:

• Identify 3 bugs

• Fix them

• Add a test to prevent regressions

Scoring (out of 10)

• Bug identification: 4

• Fixes: 4

• Test case quality: 2