An interview like no other
I'm unemployed... again.
About a year ago, I decided to chase the startup dream and join as one of the founding engineers for zinnia. Unfortunately, we lost funding and had to shut down last December. Losing not only your job but also your company in one day wasn't my favorite feeling in the world, but I'm incredibly grateful for the experience it gave me. Perhaps a story for another time!
But like I said, I have no job, which means I've been back on the Search™️. I've applied everywhere, begged for referrals, gotten many rejections etc. etc. My point isn't to belabor the job market, I just wanted to share the most unique interview I've ever been a part of.
After losing my job twice in one year, I consider myself a bit of an expert on the interview process. There's the standard recruiter -> technical screen -> onsite. Maybe you've got something more casual, like a technical chat around a project you've worked on before. Or the most extreme I've seen was a 3-day (virtual) onsite, where each session lasted 3 hours and had you build a feature using AI. Not to mention the 2 hours of prep work you needed to complete before you even arrived.
So while I've truly seen it all, I was a little surprised by a job description I happened upon for jump. They wanted me to work a week with them. That's right. A 9-5 every day for an entire week. This sounds like an insane requirement. However, there is a twist. They pay you, and they pay you well.
If you work with this company for a full week, you'll get paid $100 an hour. Needless to say, it was a bit of a no-brainer. After completing their short technical screening, I was asked which week would be best for me to join the team. I was given an email, access to their slack, and read-only access to the repo. During the week, I was responsible for building a small POC and could use any tools that were available to me. This POC wasn't busy work, it was an actual feature that the team needed done.
After my week was up, I gave a short video presentation demoing my work and had a write-up ready for the team to review. Everyone was incredibly helpful and kind. A 10/10 experience for sure.
Now, what if you didn't have the time to spend a whole week working for them? Well, you could also do a take-home assignment where you were rewarded $4k if you completed it in two days. They prefer that you work with them in person, but this is another option if you're short on time.
All that to say, what a brilliant idea for interviewing and perhaps an option that other companies should try if viable. It was great to see an employer that was aware of how valuable your time was and was willing to give you compensation for spending it with them. Interviewing can feel like a full-time job when you're in the thick of it so why not get paid it? Beyond the compensation, it gave me a chance to see how the team operated and if I would be interested in working with them on a day-to-day basis. Also, if I do get rejected, I have the emotional hedge of pocketing $4k for a week of work! I win!
If you're curious about open positions, here's a link. I highly recommend checking them out!