High level view

Experience matters

• Candidates experience of the interview process is important, regardless if the candidate is right or not for the company. If it is not working out in an interview, you should still be thoughtful of the candidates opinion. The candidate should have a positive experience regardless of whether they are a good match or not.

It’s a 2-way conversation

It is just as important to learn about the candidate as it is for them to learn about you and our business. They could walk away without the job but still recommend us to their friend who might be good for us, due to having a great experience.

• An intro on on the company and what the business is about
• An intro on your team and what you are looking to achieve in the next 6 – 12 months
• An intro on each of yourselves as an individual and what you do and what your passions are
• A walk of the floor, showcasing the development environment and team areas

• The candidates background and career journey

• Motivators
• Passions
• Why us?
• Technical expertise

Technical Assesment

• Bring up their code solution and work through what they have done?
• Is there anything in the code you don’t like?
• What point of coupling did you decide on

Cultural Assesment

• What do you hope to learn from working here?
• What experience do you want to gain?
• How long do you imagine working here?

Interview Process

Before the face to face and team interviews

• Initial phone screen
• Coding exercise
• Cv history

First round

• Usually 45 min
• Initial interview are to establish high level cultural fit (high level discussion) as well as motivations
• Should by the end of the interviews be able to identify which potential teams the candidate would add value
• We identify which team(s) would suit that candidates’ motivators best and try best match that / as well as work out where our biggest need is at that time however we don’t state in the interview a specific team, as it may change and we want candidates who are open to working across different teams

Second round

• 60 min cultural chat with the development lead & senior developer of team
• If multiple teams are identified, representatives from each team are present
• A combination of cultural and technical conversations (high level discussion, some whiteboarding, etc)
• Establishing technical expertise and principles that govern development

Third round

Meet the team

Each team that is identified as being a match gets to meet with the candidate (capped to the top 3 teams).
Each team has their own interview process, however outcomes would be:

• 60 min meet the team with all team members involved
• Candidate should have a good feel for where the team is at and what is important to them
• Team should have a good feel for candidate and whether they feel it is a match
• At end of meeting team members should indicate whether it is a yes / uncertain / maybe

Pair programming session

• 45min x 2 pair programming with people from the team
• Work on a kata, focus on strong pairing
• Identify how the person tackles a problem, how they thin, whether they can collaborate