Tech companies vying to hire the most-skilled computer science graduates in the country should look to the University of Virginia, according to CodeSignal, a San Francisco-based firm that tests software engineering job seekers for proficiency. UVA is No.1 inCodeSignal's new reportranking graduates' performance on the General Coding Assessment, the firm's test used by a growing number of big tech companies, including Meta, Uber and Reddit, to screen applicants for their computer coding and programming skills. UVA computer science graduates outperformed those from Carnegie Mellon, MIT and the California Institute of Technology on the test. Other big names such as Stanford and the University of California Berkeley, tied for the second-best engineering schools in the country in U.S. News' rankings, did not make CodeSignal's top-10 list for high-performing software graduates. In its report, released May 24, CodeSignal said its findings should send a clear message to recruiters tasked with growing and diversifying the United States' software engineering workforce: They may be looking for new workers in the wrong places and should reassess which universities they target for applicants. More than 94% of computer science degrees granted annually are not from university engineering programs that are traditionally stereotyped as “top-tier,†the report said. Only three of the schools in CodeSignal's top 10 for graduates who excel at software development are in U.S. News & World Report's list of top-10 engineering schools.The report says CodeSignal's testing data “shows that a degree from one of the traditional top engineering programs is not necessarily the best indicator of talent. Directly measuring candidates' skills rather than what school they attend is a proven way to build a stronger, more diverse team.â€