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Creating an assessment in Merge takes only a few minutes. You define the parameters — difficulty, specialization, and language surface — and Merge selects appropriate codebase content and pull request material to match. Once saved, the assessment is ready to use across as many candidates as you need.
1

Open the Assessments Dashboard

Navigate to Assessments in the main navigation and click New Assessment. You’ll be taken to the assessment creation form.
2

Name Your Assessment

Give the assessment a descriptive name — for example, Senior Backend Engineer — Q3 2025 — so your team can identify it quickly in the dashboard. Names are visible only to your hiring team, not to candidates.
3

Set the Difficulty

Choose from the following levels: Intern, New Graduate, Junior, Mid-level, Senior, Staff, or Principal. This calibrates the codebase complexity and the expected depth of review. A Senior assessment surfaces subtler issues and longer iteration cycles than a Junior one.
4

Choose a Specialization

Select the engineering domain most relevant to the role. Options include Frontend, Backend, Infrastructure, Networking, Core Database, Performance, Distributed Systems, Data Pipelines, Security, Platform, Systems, and APIs. The codebase and PR content Merge selects will reflect the domain you choose.
5

Set the Language Surface

Decide which programming languages should appear in the assessment. You can restrict the codebase to one or two specific languages for depth, or allow a broader mix when hiring for generalist roles. This setting signals clear expectations to candidates before they start.
6

Review and Save

Review your configuration on the summary screen. Confirm the name, difficulty, specialization, and language surface are correct, then click Save Assessment. The assessment is now ready for candidates to be invited.
You can create multiple assessment configurations for different roles and reuse them across hiring cycles. For example, maintain a Mid-level Backend — Python configuration alongside a Senior Infrastructure — Terraform one and invite candidates to whichever fits the open role.
Assessment content — the actual pull requests and codebase — is managed by Merge. You configure the parameters; Merge selects appropriate material that matches your difficulty, specialization, and language choices. You do not need to provide or upload code.
Once your assessment is saved, the next step is inviting candidates. For advanced configuration options — including how difficulty levels are calibrated and how specializations differ — see the Customization guide.