Geektastic

Geektastic operates a platform for the technical assessment of software engineers, designed to streamline the hiring process for scaling businesses. Founded in 2014 by Rick Brownlow and Charles Girdham, the London-based company was established to address flaws in technical recruitment. The founders believed the process took too long and existing automated screening platforms were inadequate.

Co-founder and CEO Rick Brownlow is a serial entrepreneur with a background in the insurance and, subsequently, the mobile gaming and gambling industries. His experience includes founding a mobile games startup, Chimaera Games, in 2002 and holding key roles at Mfuse and Sportingbet, where he launched the company's first real-money mobile games. Before Geektastic, he co-founded Bonza Gaming, a social casino gaming company that was later acquired by Unibet in 2015. Co-founder and CTO Charles Girdham transitioned to technology after a decade in molecular genetics research, gaining extensive experience in software development and architecture from Silicon Valley to London with companies like Sky TV and Disney.

The company's core offering is a human-led evaluation of coding ability. Instead of purely automated tests, Geektastic utilizes a global network of elite, peer reviewers, dubbed 'UberGeeks', from top technology companies like Google and Amazon to assess code challenges. This approach targets not just technical proficiency but also problem-solving skills and creativity. The platform offers both pre-built and bespoke take-home code challenges which can be customized and integrated into clients' existing HR systems. Clients receive detailed feedback within 24 hours, which significantly reduces the time to hire and frees up their internal engineering teams from the burden of conducting assessments. Geektastic's business model caters to businesses looking to hire developers, who pay for the assessment services. The company also offers a secondary income stream for experienced developers who join its 'UberGeek' community to review code challenges.

A key milestone for the company was its acquisition by Deazy, a UK-based technology startup, in February 2024. Geektastic had been collaborating with Deazy since 2022, providing its technical assessment services. Following the acquisition, Rick Brownlow joined Deazy as the Vetting and Quality Lead, with a focus on integrating soft skills and cultural fit assessments into the platform.

Keywords: technical assessment, code review, developer hiring, recruitment technology, HR tech, skills evaluation, peer review, code challenges, software engineer screening, human-reviewed assessment, talent assessment, developer vetting, technical recruitment, Deazy, Rick Brownlow, Charles Girdham, hiring platform, coding tests, pre-employment testing, engineering recruitment