Language, quite literally, is the foundation on which a business's platform is built. Given the sheer volume of coding languages being utilized today, and the demand for quality engineers capable of using them, we asked three tech companies what languages they utilize, and what they want in the ideal engineering hire.
Procore, one of Southern California's prominent unicorn companies, employs a number of coding languages, and as the company continues to rapidly expand, so too does its implementation of different languages. According to its CTO, Sam Crigman, they aren't looking specifically for engineers with a knowledge of multiple coding languages, but rather someone with the drive to learn something new.
What languages does Procore use on a regular basis?
Procore was founded in 2002, and we built our initial product on ASP.NET. In 2006, we launched a new version of our application, built on Ruby on Rails and the majority of our platform remains on Rails today. In 2015, we began to adopt React for our front end, which has now become our standard. As we add new services, we consider the unique requirements for that service and choose the right tool for the job. Over the past few months, new services have been written in Rust, Go and Elixir (Phoenix), and our team is excited to be learning newer technologies. On the mobile side, we made a decision early on to build native apps for each platform. We have our mobile team members working on Swift (iOS), Java (Android) and C# (UWP).
Does Procore hire developers with experience using different languages based on the project? Or are there basic requirements each developer needs to meet to join the team?
Procore does not have any specific language requirements. We look, primarily, for engineers with a passion for their craft, who are motivated and looking to have a massive positive impact on the company. We firmly believe that a strong engineer with passion and motivation will be able to pick up new languages and adapt to our tech stack. We welcome engineers with diverse backgrounds and expertise and hope they will bring new ideas and share their experiences with our team.
What technical advice would you give anyone thinking about applying for a position on Procore's engineering team?
We consider ourselves a learning-focused organization. Our hiring managers are inspired by candidates who can teach them something during an interview. I would advise a candidate to be ready to discuss technical areas which they are excited about, and to consider an interview at Procore an opportunity to demonstrate creativity, excitement and expertise in their domain. We are less interested in specific experience or abilities to solve purely academic technical challenges, and looking for candidates who can apply their knowledge and expertise to help solve real business problems with technical solutions. Creativity, a desire to collaborate, an open mind and a focus on solving problems effectively and efficiently are most important to us.
Founded by prolific local entrepreneur Brian Lee in 2001, LegalZoom was one of the first wave of tech startups in the LA area. According to Director, Engineering, Chris Capriccio, the ability for engineers to display a diverse skillset is key.
What coding languages does LegalZoom use on a regular basis?
At LegalZoom, we rely on C#, JavaScript, Java (Android) and Swift (iOS).
Does LegalZoom hire developers with experience using different languages based on the project? Or are there basic requirements each developer needs to meet to join the team?
Generally, we have core requirements for each team as we tend to use the same or similar platforms between projects. However, breadth of experience across platforms is always desirable. This is particularly handy in a fast-paced, innovative office like ours. Projects evolve rapidly and Zoomers often must connect with different teams to meet their objectives.
What technical advice would you give anyone thinking about applying for a position on LegalZoom's engineering team?
Brush up on your core software engineering practices. While hands-on experience is definitely needed, you must also be able to demonstrate your mastery of the basic principles of object-oriented programming (OOP) and problem-solving.
Since 2011, telecommunications company FreedomPop has delivered free wireless internet and free mobile phone service to users all over the world. According to FreedomPop's CTO, Scott Bendar, an engineer with fluency in multiple languages is someone that gets the team excited, but finding someone capable of displaying a solid coding comprehension and a passion for development is ideal.
What coding languages does FreedomPop use on a regular basis?
Most of our systems are written in Java or JavaScript.
Does FreedomPop hire developers with experience using different languages based on the project? Or are there basic requirements each developer needs to meet to join the team?
We love developers that know multiple languages as it shows that someone is interested enough in software development to learn additional ways of doing things. It depends on the opening we are hiring for, but in general, we have very few basic requirements other than being able to demonstrate competency, be passionate about development and be someone we all want to work next to every day!
What technical advice would you give anyone thinking about applying for a position on FreedomPop engineering team?
We are always looking for people who are pushing themselves to learn new things, new frameworks and new languages, whether for their current job or even better just because it looked cool and they wanted to know more about it.
Images via participating companies.
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