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Competitive Coding & Proctored Assessment Platform

CodArena

CodArena is a competitive coding and assessment platform for students, educators, and institutions. It bridges the gap between daily LeetCode-style practice and real, proctored company assessments, combining real-time contest infrastructure with AI-driven integrity monitoring.

RoleProduct Strategy · User Research · UX · Frontend · Backend Architecture
TimelineMar 2025 – Apr 2026 · 13 months
PlatformWeb SaaS · React + Supabase
CodArena
codarena
Problem

Students practice on LeetCode every day but freeze inside real proctored assessments, cameras, tab-switch lockdowns, and time pressure create environment shock. Institutions, meanwhile, have zero visibility into who is actually placement-ready and no affordable way to run proctored mock tests at scale. Existing tools (HackerRank, Codility) are priced for enterprise hiring, not college preparation.

Vision

Students practice on LeetCode. They prove themselves on CodArena.

User research
Students
  • Want a competitive but fair environment
  • Motivated by XP, streaks, and leaderboard visibility
  • Need practice and contests in one place
  • Want hands-on proctored exam experience before placements
Institutions
  • Need credible, proctored assessments at scale
  • Want department-level performance analytics
  • Require easy student onboarding via invite links
Placement Officers
  • Need data on which students are placement-ready
  • Want to identify weak areas before company drives
  • Cannot manually proctor hundreds of students
Competitive landscape
PlatformProctoringGamificationOrg DashboardsPricing
HackerRankLimited·Enterprise
LeetCode·Basic·Freemium
CodeChef··Free
CodilityEnterprise·Enterprise
CodArenaAI-poweredFullSaaS
Key features
  • Full-screen contest arena with built-in code editor
  • AI-powered face verification & live proctoring
  • Multi-format contests, DSA, MCQ, SQL
  • Wallet, XP, and clan-based gamification
  • Organization dashboards with department analytics
  • Auto-grading and AI-generated proctoring reports
Prioritization (RICE)
FeatureReachImpactPriority
AI ProctoringHighCriticalP0
Multi-format ContestsHighHighP0
Org Dashboard & OnboardingMediumCriticalP0
Wallet & GamificationHighMediumP1
Clan SystemMediumMediumP2
User journey
  1. 01

    Sign up & profile setup

  2. 02

    Browse contests

  3. 03

    Join & pay entry fee

  4. 04

    Face verification

  5. 05

    Enter contest arena

  6. 06

    Submit code

  7. 07

    View results & leaderboard

  8. 08

    Earn XP & rewards

Metrics
43
Total users
Registered on platform
32
Contests created
DSA, MCQ & SQL
250+
Questions in bank
DSA + MCQ + SQL
81
Code submissions
Across all contests
Impact
01

Organizations go from registration to first proctored contest in under 5 minutes

02

AI question generation eliminates manual test creation across DSA, MCQ, and SQL

03

Proctoring captures tab switches, camera feed, and violations with zero manual oversight

04

Students get instant AI-powered feedback after every contest

Challenges & trade-offs

Real-time code execution at scale

Building a secure sandboxed engine that handles concurrent submissions without resource exhaustion, solved with queue-based processing and execution time limits.

Proctoring privacy concerns

Balancing integrity monitoring with user trust, addressed by making proctoring opt-in at the contest level with clear consent dialogs before face capture.

Cold start for a two-sided platform

Needed both students and institutions to create value. Launched public contests first to build a user base, then onboarded institutions on top of an engaged community.

Key learnings
  • Proctoring is a must-have for institutional buyers, top decision driver in early conversations
  • Gamification (XP, streaks, wallets) significantly improved D7 retention
  • Narrow scope first (coding contests) then expand (SQL, MCQ) beats launching every format at once
  • Shipping on managed infra freed up time for product differentiation instead of DevOps
Future roadmap
  • Mobile-responsive contest experience
  • AI-powered personalized practice recommendations
  • Placement drive management module for institutions
  • API integrations with LMS platforms (Moodle, Canvas)
  • Multi-language UI support
Conclusion

CodArena turned a clear market gap, credible, proctored, engaging coding assessments for institutions, into a shipped product that validates both its B2C engagement model and B2B value proposition over thirteen months of focused execution.

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