One of the business skills that Bixly has honed over the years which has been essential to our business is finding amazing talent. What that means for us is people with amazing attitudes, who are great collaborators, who contribute to the excellent work environment for the rest of our team, who are a pleasure to work with both for us and our clients, and who are great communicators... And who are top-notch developers.
Does that seem like we are asking too much? We don't think so because building a great team means that we offer a great team to work with. When we onboard someone new, that means they have the opportunity to also work with people who are great collaborators, great communicators, generous with their time, etc. This is what we mean by great work culture. And that's my (Alexandra's) specialty. I love team building, simply because I like people -- and that's despite the fact that I'm an introvert. I simply love building a place where I would love to work at and welcome those people who connect with it here also.
But that's only a part of the puzzle. I can't simply hire great people with amazing attitudes and work ethics if they don't have the programming chops. That's where my support team comes in. Our recruiting process isn't just me. It also includes our COO, CTO, and senior dev for the project they are going onto. We have a robust test that allows us to see what each candidate's technical ability is. The test is reviewed by senior engineers in our team. One of the difficulties of finding a great firm or finding a great engineer is that it's hard to tell if they know what they're talking about unless you are also a programmer. That's why it's essential that our technical recruiting process is highly collaborative with the technical talent we already have.
Speaking of process, what is included in the Bixly process? Well, first, it helps to have a good reputation in the community. That means glassdoor as much as it means your local city. Second, I've developed connections in a variety of online spaces where I can source great people. Once we have applications, I review them checking for matches with the job. I don't use AI. I read them myself because there may be some amazing candidates who are the right people to take a chance on. That's hard for an AI tool to perceive. Then we have a phone screen: a quick 30-minute call that allows me to see if they are a good cultural fit. This also allows them to ask any questions they might have. It's important to remember that candidates are interviewing your company as much as you're interviewing them. Then comes the technical test mentioned above. Then comes the final interview with all the key stakeholders for that project. I feel strongly that having too many rounds in the interview process is disrespectful to the candidate's time. Every once in a while we might request additional testing, code samples, or an additional interview. This is rare. We try very hard to keep our recruiting process within the three rounds outlined above.
This process has enabled us to find top talent since 2008. Of course, we've refined it over the years. It has only gotten better at finding amazing engineers for our team. And that's why it's part of what we offer with our Fractional CTO services. A great CTO will find the right people for your engineering team. A great CTO will be able to identify the right roles you need for the success of your project. A great CTO will be able to identify the right time to bring on the right person. We can do that for you.