The Art of Interviewing Software Developers at 10Clouds

We look for passion driven developers who are madly in love with big challenges. When it comes to hiring, we search for those who are ridiculously good at what they do! Apart from proven experience, we always look for something extra, a certain personality trait that can make you a part of 10Clouds team!

Stop by our place before sending your shiny CV

Feel free to visit us for a coffee if you want to feel our spirit. Our place is located in a villa with it’s very own garden (did someone say barbeques?!), in the beautiful district of Warsaw called “Saska Kępa”. We’re also expanding our offices in Wrocław (In the heart of Old Town!) and in Poznań.

Too good to be true? Come and see!

Recruitment process step by step

Let’s assume you’ve already sent your CV at careers@10clouds.com and happily got an invitation to 10Clouds Mansion. Imagine you’re now sitting in front of us. Yeah… and now what?

Well, don’t expect yet-just-another interview. This might sound crazy, but we assume that the conversation is not only for us but most of all for the candidate. We like to keep it short (Aaawww this is the best!) so take a look at the 10Clouds recruitment journey!

Part I – Technical interview & pair programming

This part will tell you more about our current projects and check if you think like a craftsman. When it comes to hiring, we’re against cookie-cutter technical interviews. We’ve heard many times from the candidates they learn a lot during our interviews.

You’ll meet one of our great programmers during the technical interview which consists of 4 steps:

1. General questions

We’d love to hear about your previous experience and challenges you faced at your work! What sources of knowledge do you use to stay up-to-date? What is the last technology/framework you began to explore? What have you learned recently? Wha… just tell us more! My dear Watson, we need a proof.

2. Technical questions

Questions will be connected with the field of your expertise. It’s the discussion that is the most important – we exchange views and insights about given topic. If you don’t know the answer to a technical task, don’t be afraid to tell us. We’re all people and we all make mistakes. This is why we face problems together and we never leave questions without an answer. There’s enough room for development so we draw inspiration from each other – just sayin’.

3. They see me codin’, they lovin’

We conduct a pair programming exercise to reveal your problem solving skills and potential ability to work effectively with others. It won’t be a cake walk for someone who has only ever coded solo, but nobody is going to shame you here. It’s necessary to see your approach to the problem and willingness to search for solutions in the Internet (You can Google!). Observing someone tackling the issue under constraints can tell us a lot about the person’s abilities.

4. It’s your turn to ask questions!

Now we turn the tables. What do you need to know? We’ll tell you more about our current projects and technologies we use. Ask for anything!

This part shouldn’t last longer than 1 hour.

If it’s more comfortable you can use your own laptop, but we share our equipment too – it’s up to you.

Remote Interview

Let’s meet on Skype or Google Hangouts if you want to reach us remotely. Rules are the same, just share your screen for a technical task.

Part II – Let HR know you’re a firework!

After technical part, it’s time to get to know more about you! Although the code is important, don’t forget about the social interaction.

Let’s talk

Say hello to Zaneta – our HR Manager! Instead of “interviewing” she’ll tell you more about our values, mission and culture. No one likes to answer the cliched HR interview questions, right? (Naaah!), so don’t expect “tricky” questions from her. We hire people, not units of labour. It’s very likely you’ll join our crew soon, so let’s act like teammates.

We represent a cool software house and we feel genuinely proud to work at 10Clouds. Even though we’re growing so fast (65 people and still counting!), we want to maintain GREAT (Caps intended) vibes here.

If you think you’ve seen a company culture like this, you ain’t seen nothin’. We not only recruit great people – we also want YOU to love us! (He-e-eello, is it us you’re looking foooor?). Lionel still waits over a decade, don’t let us wait for you too long!

Let’s continue in English

Breathe easy, it will be a simple conversation in English. We don’t want to make your brain freezing at the moment 🙂 Why do we have to check your English?

1. We have international customers only

We treat our clients as team members – they have active role in project’s development, and they are constantly in touch with the team – including weekly meetings!

2. We love to attend conferences abroad

We take care of tickets, flights and accommodation. Choose your favourite place in Europe – it’s probable you’ll need English more than any language to communicate abroad 🙂 If you still don’t feel confident in your language skills, we fund lessons with a native speaker. There you go!

This part will take no longer than 30 minutes.

It can be performed directly in our villa in Warsaw or remotely via Skype or Google Hangouts.

Part III – Meet the CEO

If you got YESYES’es for all previous steps, you’ll be invited to the last step of recruitment process. You’ll meet someone who wants to create the developer’s heaven. It’s none other than our CEO, Maciek!

The reasons why Maciek wants to meet you is to:

1. Know you better

He always meets the best candidates in person. Believe us or not, this man has a clear vision. People are most important here and we strive to make every single employee feel like part of the team. Not bad, uh?

2. Listen about your personal development needs

Tell him what tasks you find the most challenging or what technologies you would like to use. It’s showtime – spice things up and shout about yourself! It’s also a great opportunity to ask questions about the previous stages of the recruitment process.

3. Reveal what kind of a programmer are you

The two of you may have a few things in common – trust us, he’s a developer. You can expect a short technical task to resolve (You got this!!).

How to prepare?

Just be yourself. There is no place for a stress, chill out. We know passion driven people make the best software, period.

This part will take between 30 minutes or 1 hour.

Within a step of joining our crew!

After the conversation, we send an offer within a week if you are the perfect match. Keeping fingers crossed!

Feedback

Due to many applications we’re not capable of giving feedback to everyone. But we know that it’s often important to understand how you were perceived. If our feedback is important to you, tell us up front and we will give it to you after the interview process.

Didn’t get a job?

We’re constantly on the lookout for more amazing people to join our team. Please check our careers section from time to time, there are always current available positions. Maybe try next time?