HackerRank Manifesto

The word "computer" was initially used to describe humans—specifically, people who performed calculations by hand. Then came Charles Babbage's analytical engine, which helped us mechanize mathematical calculations. Mainframes enabled businesses to process data at unprecedented scales, personal computers democratized computing access, and smartphones put computing power in our pockets.

In each evolution, new tools, programming languages, and frameworks increasingly abstracted away complexity, making it easier for more people to engage with computers creatively. COBOL simplified business computing, C gave programmers hardware control with readable syntax, Python made programming more intuitive, and visual programming tools allowed non-engineers to build applications.

The result?

An unleashing of human creativity and a dramatic increase in builders.

Each abstraction layer invited new minds with different perspectives to participate in technological creation.

We have gone from people coding on punch cards with cryptic machine languages to coding on mobile phones using natural language in just 50 years! What incredible progress.

AI: The Next Evolution

AI represents another evolution in this journey—another powerful layer of abstraction. Just as high-level programming languages abstract machine code, AI systems abstract programming itself.

This shift will invite a new set of builders and enable entirely new types of products. It's not simply an iteration but the dawn of a new world.

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The Next Generation of Developers

The next generation of developers will embody a unique combination of skills:

They think of AI as an extension of their creativity while maintaining strong fundamentals in computer science that tell them when to use human judgment.
They build software that is both reliable and beautiful—systems that are well-tested and robust yet also crafted with an eye for design.
They are not merely code producers but exhibit strong business acumen that can fundamentally change a company’s trajectory by inventing new products.

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This generation doesn't face the traditional tradeoffs between speed and quality, technical excellence and business impact, or leveraging tools and understanding fundamentals. Instead, they harmonize these seemingly contradictory forces.

This is the beginning of a new journey.

We are going to play our part by partnering with companies to reimagine their entire talent strategy, from hiring to upskilling and empowering our community to become the next generation of developers!

As we embrace these changes, one thing remains constant: our core ethos of skills over pedigree. That applies to every generation. It’s timeless.

Welcome! Can’t wait to experience the new world.

- Vivek

CEO of HackerRank