What We Learned Hiring 33 Engineers in Two Weeks
5 days ago
- #Engineering Innovation
- #AI-Driven Hiring
- #Modern Interview Process
- The company redesigned its engineering interview process to reflect modern software development, moving away from traditional methods that test pattern recognition and syntax recall.
- A key component is a three-hour build session where candidates design, build, and deploy a working prototype using AI tools of their choice, observing real-time engineering decisions.
- The interview evaluates candidates' judgment in productionizing ideas, post-build discussions cover design choices, scaling, business constraints, and real-world problem-solving.
- Streamlined steps were implemented, removing redundant screens for relevant candidates and aligning decision criteria upfront to enable fast hiring decisions, with offers often within 24 hours.
- The focus shifted to hiring early-career engineers fluent with AI tools, viewing this as a strategic advantage for foundational roles in an AI-native cloud environment.
- To support the cohort, a new office was opened in Bellevue, designed for collaboration, co-working, and accelerating team integration, contributing to immediate productivity and impact.
- Hired engineers quickly contributed to projects, with examples including model catalog development, MCP servers, and serverless inference migration, emphasizing dexterity and real-world problem-solving.
- The approach is grounded in evaluating work as it exists today and treating hiring as a design problem, ensuring each step has a clear purpose to improve speed and experience for all parties.
- Successful outcomes from the first cohort have led to plans for future hiring rounds, targeting builders interested in AI-native cloud infrastructure.