New job at Symphony

This Monday, I started a new job as the Senior Software Engineer at Symphony.

Symphony is a web outsourcing agency, with clients that are both small startups and huge enterprises. Some of the things in their stack are React, Java, Node, Python and many other project-specific technologies and stacks.

The interview process

The interview process consisted of an intro call (~30min), technical test (~1h), "HR" test (1-1.5h), "HR" interview (1h) and a technical interview (1-2h).

Technical parts of the interview were quite reasonable and "ordinary", but I was very impressed by the "HR" parts. There were various personality and cognitive tests that you had a limited amount of time to finish. The tests were extremely fun, challenging and detailed. Furthermore, the "HR" interview was a very intimate dive into one's personality and world perception. I felt very exposed during the interview (in a good way) and I found that talk very insightful even for myself, because there were some very open-ended questions that only served a purpose of revealing what lies below. I've had dozens of HR interviews so far, but this was unlike anything before. I compare it with not just a simple psych eval, but with a full-blown psych session. I really liked the fact that, no matter the outcome of the interview process, you can request a "feedback" on the psych eval.

I enjoyed the process very much and it was quite in-depth and detailed. Because of that, I was pretty confident that the people they hire are not only good engineers but individuals that all fit together well, and in that way, the culture and environment that is being built is healthy and natural (not forced), and that was something that I realy, really liked, and was one of the main signs that I was making the right decision by accepting the offer.

Impressions

The general impression so far has been that people are super nice and friendly (as explained why above), and very knowledgeable.

The benefits and perks (cats in the backyard!, among other things) are extremely good, and my satisfaction so far was has been very high. I'm really looking forward to new opportunities, fun and challenging projects and ability to learn from the colleagues, and enjoy the ride.