“It’s about taking a leap of faith. Working for any company in the United States (or the world) is possible if you have the right skills. It has nothing to do with where you live,” shared ArnoldoMontaño, frontend developer at EasyKnock and participant in The Global Engineer, held by Terminal on May 4th.
The forum consisted of 6 talks in which leaders of disruptive companies shared tips for developers to continue innovating with technologies that generate impact in the world without leaving their countries. A contextual line about going further and wondering why coding every day is a satisfaction can go beyond salary.
“I love Latin America. But the fact is that we tend to be a bit risk averse,” said Vicente Plata, VP Engineering, Runway Health. “If you let risk resistance show during your interviews, it’s going to be hard to get some of them. If you want to get a job at this level, stop thinking about the typical 9 to 5 and think in terms of how you will impact: How are you going to impact the business and how are you going to contribute to this stage of hypergrowth?”
The experts convened by Terminal responded to concerns about how to enter and grow professionally in fast-growing companies in Silicon Valley. From practical and proven tips on effective communication, how to develop an eye-catching resume, how to cultivate soft skills, and key tips for having a successful recruiter interaction.
What is important to consider in a job interview?
● Communication skills: We look for candidates who are able to express their ideas and opinions and talk about their main motivations and expectations. Perfect English is not required, as conversations are more productive when candidates are honest about what they know and don’t know and when they ask questions and engage with the recruiter, showing interest in the position and the company.
“It’s good to know how the team deals with challenges; ask about what difficult situations the team is going through and how it deals with them. In general, it is about having an idea about how open the recruiter is when answering your questions”, advised Andrés Hernández, director of Engineering / Latam Site Lead at Voyager. “This will give you an idea of what the person you will be working with is like.”
● Technical Skills: We’re interested in professional background and experience, but we also want to hear about your pet projects, product development, and experiences building web applications. It is important
Talk to recruiters about the specific problems you’ve faced and the approaches you’re taking to solve them. From there, we can help candidates figure out the roles that make sense for their experience and find the one that’s the best fit for them.
● Technical Evaluation: This could be a customer-created specific code challenge or HackerRank evaluations or live coding sessions. Remote readiness, including communication skills, is also assessed.
“When I hire, I look for initiative. I look for people I can trust to propose useful alternatives to work on so that the company and team goals are achieved,” suggested Caroline Simpson, Manager of Engineering at Bungalow. “Developers who make suggestions when they see something that can be improved.”
● Clear salary expectations; It’s important to be assertive with your salary expectations so things will work out for you and it will be possible to help you land an amazing job. If you have relevant experience and are confident in your abilities, and demonstrates them throughout the interview, the company you are interested in will be willing to consider the compensation the candidate is seeking.
“Don’t wear yourself out over-planning your career,” said Luke Beseda, Vice President of Talent Infrastructure at Lightspeed Venture Partners; “Work with people who care about your success and have an enthusiastic approach to what you do.”
● Provide a concise and clear resume: It should have details about your experience, your strengths and what you are looking for. Describe your areas of expertise, what technology have you been working with in the last few years, what are you looking for in your next position, and how has it helped other companies grow?
“Be genuinely curious and passionate about building things. That’s where you learn. When I hire engineers, I like to find people who have taken a problem from start to finish because it’s not the theory in the middle, it’s not just the algorithm that figured it out makes it all work,” said Brandon Moak, Embark co-founder and chief technology officer. Trucks: “It’s about when you define the problem, when you have understood the theory in the middle and take it to the finish line to make it work.”
More than 400 attendees, developers from Latin America, Canada and Poland were able to verify the elements that the new wave of recruiting managers from booming technology companies are requiring in remote candidates. Not only getting advice on how to thrive in a global engineering team and accelerate their careers at Silicon Valley companies, The Global Engineer Summit connected industry figures to discuss, debate and build a new landscape for the developer community.
