Searching for a new role isn’t always easy and even when you find a company with a product you feel could be the next big thing, it’s hard to understand what the company expects from you throughout the interview process. Engineering teams vary in the skills they seek, the dynamics of the team and the culture of the company, but here at Turbonomic we’re uncovering the unknown, so that candidates are set up for success.
I recently sat down with two of our Technical Recruiters, Adam Pasti and Nick Picardi for part one of a two part Q&A centered around engineering at Turbonomic and what they look for in candidates.
How does Turbonomic define “engineering” as it relates to roles at the company?
Adam: Engineering here is mainly comprised of our R&D team who are building our software but we also have client facing systems or sales engineers, cloud architects and support engineers.
Nick: This primarily refers to software development but can also include quality engineering, devops, or other roles that directly relate to the development of our software platform.
What other opportunities are there for engineers at Turbonomic?
Adam: There are the roles which I mentioned above, but we also look for Technical Writers, Sales Engineers and Product Managers.
What skills are you looking for when hiring for engineering roles?
Adam: Nick captures it well, but I would add that we are looking for the ability to digest a complex problem and consider the impact of multiple solutions. We look for someone who considers design as well as writing clean, maintainable code. Our engineering team is highly interactive, so the ability to collaborate with others is a key trait.
Nick: We try not to get too specific with the requirements. We’re just looking for strong coders that have a solid grasp of computer science fundamentals, can think on their feet and solve complex problems, and have demonstrated ability to pick things up quickly. If they have experience with public cloud, virtualization or SDDC technology, that helps as well. Genuine interest and enthusiasm goes a long way with me. If a candidate comes on to a call with great knowledge of who we are and what we do, and has thoughtful questions about Turbonomic, that is something that leaves a great impression.
What is it like to interview for engineering roles here?
Adam: We know that we are being interviewed as much as we are interviewing the candidate. We want to learn about their individual interests, goals and technical skill-set. We also want them to learn about us; what are some projects they could work on, what is our culture like and how could they be successful and grow here. Ultimately, we will start out with a phone interview with a recruiter. Next step is an interactive technical interview with a senior engineer or manager. Last step is an onsite interview where you’ll typically meet with four key people including leadership.
Nick: My favorite element of our interview process is that every engineer that we hire talks to an Engineering VP. Being granted the opportunity to speak with engineering leadership 1 on 1 before making a decision is fairly rare and provides a unique lens for learning more about the company, how we operate and where we’re headed.
As a recruiter, how do you help match a candidate’s skills to a role?
Adam: Talk to them! The only way to truly match a candidate’s skills (and interests) to a role is to become technical yourself so you can have a credible conversation. Spend time with your engineering team to learn what they are doing and put forth the effort to educate yourself as a recruiter to have a deep understanding of technology and what is successful within that specific org. Only then can you have a genuine conversation with a candidate to make a determination of if they are a good match.
Nick: The resume never tells the whole story. Yes/no questions rarely allow me to get the information I need to determine if I have a fitting role for a candidate. I’m more interested in hearing a story – details in the candidate’s own words about what they’ve been building, what the functionality of the software is, what the most challenging aspects were of building that software, etc. I can use that information to start to piece together whether or not this person has what we need.
After I get the data I’m looking for, I address any concerns. I believe that transparency is the key. I bring attention to anything that feels to me like a mismatch, and I’ll let the candidate convince me that it’s not a real concern. Simply put, trying to force a candidate into the wrong job is beneficial to no one. One other thing – equally (if not more) important as the candidate’s skills are their interests…. What do they want to do and can we offer that? My experience has been that if people don’t have the proper motivation, it doesn’t matter how well the job fits.
Stay tuned for part two of our Q&A series with our technical recruiters to get more insights on what it takes to land a developer job here at Turbonomic. Want to check out our current openings? Click here.
