How We Attracts Software Talent and Why It Matters

In our industry, we believe that our success hinges on the talents we bring on board. Talented individuals are not just part of our business—they are our business. Without exceptional talents, our achievements would be limited. This understanding drives our approach to recruiting, ensuring we identify and nurture the best software engineers who can contribute to our clients.

How We Find Top Software Engineers at Galliot

We’ve brought on board over a 100 software engineers in the past 6 years. Finding the best isn’t just about reading CVs—it’s about spotting the real talents, the true gems. Surprisingly, it’s not about the offer you give, it’s more about finding the right person for our team. Here’s a glimpse into our approach:

1. Problem Solvers, Not Just Coders: We look for engineers who do more than just code. We value developers who can think outside the box. During interviews, we ask candidates to describe a tough problem they’ve solved. This helps us understand their problem-solving skills.

2. Learning Agility: Technology evolves rapidly, and so should engineers. We assess candidates on their ability to learn quickly and adapt. Do they contribute to open source? Do they attend conferences? Their passion for learning often speaks louder than their current skill set.

3. Team Collaboration: Being a great developer isn’t just about technical skills; it’s also about how well one can communicate and collaborate with others. We delve into their past team experiences and how they handle conflicts, ensuring they can thrive in team settings.

4. Passion Projects: What candidates do outside their regular work hours can reveal a lot about their creativity and motivation. Whether it’s a GitHub project, a personal blog, or community contributions, these passions provide insights into their potential and drive.

Community events and meetups are prime spots for us to discover software talent. Engineers who actively contribute to communities and participate in meetups show several key traits of ideal software engineers we look for.

Lucas Boneo – LATAM recruiter at Galliot

5. Hands-On Challenges: We set up real-world coding challenges and pair programming sessions to observe candidates in action. This helps us gauge how they handle feedback, interact with peers, and solve problems on the fly. This approach may require more time and resources from your existing engineering team, but it’s well worth the investment.

6. Cultural Fit and Values: Skills can be taught, but a person’s core values are ingrained. We ensure that a candidate’s values resonate with our company culture. This alignment is crucial for long-term success and integration within our teams. This is a crucial consideration for us, as we often have engineers who join other projects. It’s essential to maintain our unique culture and work effectively with client team members. Culture plays a pivotal role in this model because it influences how our engineers integrate and perform within a client’s environment, which includes adapting to their culture, processes, and technology.

7. Thorough Reference Checks: Even if we are impressed by a candidate, we don’t skip the due diligence. We reach out to mutual connections and even past colleagues to get a well-rounded view of the candidate’s work ethic and character.

8. Trust Your Gut: Finally, sometimes it comes down to instincts. If something feels off, we take a step back. Conversely, if there’s a strong positive gut reaction, we trust it, but also set clear, measurable goals for the first few months. The worst hiring decisions we’ve made occurred when we were under pressure and chose to ignore our instincts. We felt the repercussions of these choices a few months down the line where the delivery was at risk and we lost the time.

Finding the best software engineers means looking beyond the resume and candidates’ answers during the interview. At Galliot, we engage deeply to understand the person behind the paper. This comprehensive approach helps we onboard not just skilled engineers, but truly remarkable ones who are ready to excel and grow with us. That’s how we can retain people!

Listen to our clients discuss how Galliot’s engineers and services helped them build and maintain a long-term engineering team partnership.