Interviewing with Harled

In this post I want to walk you through what to expect when interviewing with Harled. Getting to this point means that you've already identified yourself as a great candidate, and that we're excited to learn more about you!

The Process

Our interview process is comprised of three steps:

1. Quick hello from our Head of People Culture, Design and Strategy). This call will cover some basic information about the opportunity, the way our team works and to gain a sense of what you are looking for in a role with Harled. This call is typically 15-20 minutes.
2. Deeper dive with our Principal - Chris will connect with you and go into more detail about the opportunity, the typical day and gain a better understanding of your past experiences. Bring your questions about team dynamics, work culture and opportunities for growth. This call is typically 30 minutes.
3. Technical interview with the Head of Engineering - Our Head of Engineering will spend some time with you in an environment that closely resembles our daily working style. That is, pair programming, stack overflow and loving our craft! There is a good chance that you two will be working on one of our open source projects (matey or monocle). This call is typically 45 minutes.

Practice Like You Play

I would like to think that our interview process is very approachable. We're not out to get you, and we're absolutely not interested in creating artificial scenarios and then watching you squirm. The nature of our work is much more complicated than regurgitating algorithms on a whiteboard.

Based on this belief, from the first conversation you'll notice that we want to work with you. That is, work with you to understand your strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments and ambitions. As a small team we all need to be there for eachother. It just turns out that the first interview is our first opportunity to practice and invest in this relationship.

This belief also greatly influences how we do technical assessments. We want to work together to solve problems, and we want it to be a collaborative process (we think pair programming really does make for better developers and better code). It isn't a test so much as it is a practice coding session. For us, product development is a team sport and we want to always put the team first. Technical skills can be learned, interpersonal skills and communication are much harder to develop.

Validate Our Fit

Just as we're assessing your fit with Harled, we want you to assess Harled's fit with you! To this end, make sure you ask questions to better understand the type of work that we do and our underlying approach. You'll see we're not like big companies (this is a positive and negative), and it is important to appreciate what that means for you and the type of individual that you are.

The more (thoughtful) questions, the better. Really do take the time to think through your ideal day and compare that to how we choose to work at Harled.

Ask for Feedback

We value being open and honest in interviews. We also come from a strong background of mentoring and coaching, and we're always happy to share that with motivated individuals. If you have any questions about what is expected, or what you could improve on, we'll be more than happy to share our perspective.

Once onboard, we'll ask you for feedback in terms of how we could improve. We love new perspectives and we fully believe that feedback is an amazing tool to build great teams and to build great software.

If you are already in the process of interviewing with us, then we hope this helps set expectations. And if not, and you like our approach please checkout our open positions!