Haskell Skills

What is Haskell?

Haskell skills involve a statically typed functional programming language developed in 1997 by logician Haskell Curry. As a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, it has flexible semantics and strong static typing. Every function in Haskell is a mathematical function(i.e., “pure”). The language contains no statements or instructions, only expressions. However, these expressions cannot mutate variables or access states like time or random numbers.

What to use Haskell skills for

• Functional Programming Paradigm: Haskell is ideal for functional programming, enabling developers to write elegant, concise, and maintainable code using higher-order functions, immutable data structures, and algebraic data types.
• Concurrency and Parallelism: Haskell provides powerful abstractions for concurrent and parallel programming, including lightweight threads, software transactional memory (STM), and parallel list comprehensions, enabling developers to build highly scalable and performant applications.
• Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs): Haskell is often used for building domain-specific languages (DSLs) and embedded domain-specific languages (EDSLs), thanks to its expressive type system, strong abstraction capabilities, and support for monadic composition.
• Algorithmic and Mathematical Programming: Haskell excels at algorithmic and mathematical programming tasks, thanks to its expressive syntax, pattern matching, and strong support for mathematical concepts like monads, functors, and type classes.
• Research and Education: Haskell is widely used in academic and research settings for teaching and studying functional programming concepts, language design, and programming language theory.

What is a Haskell developer?

Here’s what it means to be a Haskell developer:

• Functional Programming Enthusiast: A Haskell developer is a programming language enthusiast who embraces functional programming principles and practices, striving to write elegant, expressive, and composable code using Haskell.
• Proficient in Haskell: A Haskell developer is proficient in the Haskell programming language, including its syntax, type system, and core libraries, and knows how to leverage its features to solve complex problems and build robust and scalable software.
• Strong Mathematical and Algorithmic Skills: A Haskell developer possesses strong mathematical and algorithmic skills, enabling them to tackle challenging problems and implement efficient and elegant solutions using Haskell’s functional programming paradigm.
• Experience with Concurrent and Parallel Programming: A Haskell developer has experience with concurrent and parallel programming techniques in Haskell, including managing concurrency, synchronization, and parallelism, and understands how to leverage Haskell’s abstractions for scalable and performant software.
• Continuous Learner: A Haskell developer is a lifelong learner who stays abreast of the latest developments in Haskell and functional programming, constantly exploring new libraries, tools, and techniques to improve their skills and broaden their understanding of the language and its ecosystem.

Most important Haskell developer skills in 2024

• Functional Programming Fundamentals: Mastery of functional programming concepts such as higher-order functions, currying, recursion, pattern matching, and monads, enabling developers to write elegant and expressive Haskell code.
• Type System Mastery: Understanding of Haskell’s powerful type system, including type inference, type classes, algebraic data types, and type-level programming, ensuring type safety and correctness in Haskell programs.
• Concurrency and Parallelism: Experience with concurrent and parallel programming in Haskell, including managing lightweight threads, software transactional memory (STM), and parallel list comprehensions, optimizing performance and scalability in Haskell applications.
• Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs): Proficiency in building domain-specific languages (DSLs) and embedded domain-specific languages (EDSLs) using Haskell’s expressive type system, monadic composition, and abstraction capabilities, enabling developers to capture domain-specific logic and constraints in a concise and composable manner.
• Mathematical and Algorithmic Problem-Solving: Strong mathematical and algorithmic skills for solving complex problems and implementing efficient and elegant solutions using Haskell’s functional programming paradigm, leveraging concepts like monoids, functors, applicatives, and monads.

Haskell resources

Check out our resources to continue sharpening your Haskell skills.

Hired profiles help developers showcase their top tech skills

After passing Hired skills assessments, candidates have the chance to showcase their skills to employers. They can opt to present an ‘Assessments’ badge on their profile. Candidates may take various assessments including Programming Skills, Full Stack, Backend, Frontend, iOS, Android, Debugging, Dev Ops Generalist, and Dev Ops AWS.

Why should you hire Haskell developers?

• Functional Expertise: Haskell developers bring deep expertise in functional programming, enabling them to write elegant, expressive, and bug-free code that is easier to understand, maintain, and refactor.
• Concurrency and Scalability: Haskell developers enable you to build highly concurrent and scalable applications that can handle large volumes of data and concurrent user interactions with ease, thanks to Haskell’s powerful abstractions for concurrency and parallelism.
• Domain-Specific Solutions: Haskell developers enable you to develop domain-specific solutions and DSLs that capture complex business logic and domain concepts in a concise and expressive manner, improving developer productivity and system reliability.
• Research and Innovation: Haskell developers bring a research-oriented mindset and a passion for innovation, leveraging Haskell’s expressive type system and advanced abstractions to explore new ideas, solve challenging problems, and push the boundaries of programming language design and implementation.
• Commitment to Quality: Haskell developers are committed to writing high-quality and maintainable code, following best practices, writing comprehensive tests, and embracing code reviews and continuous integration to ensure software quality and reliability.

Assess tech candidates for Haskell skills

Looking for candidates skilled in Haskell? Technical assessments are a multi-pronged solution. They allow you to streamline the hiring process and reduce bias with tech skill-focused benchmarks. 

Hired Assessments offers a library of hundreds of questions and customizable coding challenge campaigns tailored to technical preferences. Centralize and standardize your evaluation process as you surface top talent with specific, hard-to-find skills.

See how Mastercard and Axon used Hired Assessments to vet top candidates.