Engineering Recruitment Process @ Doximity

A Closer Look at the Process

Dec 12, 2019 | Bruno Miranda

Even the best interview process can be stressful and drawn-out. That's why Doximity aims to reduce stress and friction while making sure everyone still gets the most out of the interview.

tl;dr

We take a close look at all resumes as they come in. If a resume is a good match for the role, the first step is to schedule a 45-minute intro call with our internal recruiting team. Take a look at our open positions for more info.

This call has a few important purposes. The first is to understand why you'd want to work at Doximity. We also want to make sure our expectations match up, so we’ll chat about salary, start date, and other important details. We’ll give you an overview of our company, discuss things like who we are, what we do, and tech stack. You'll learn more about our clients, products, and our team process. And last but not least, you'll have time to ask questions.

We typically decide within a day if we'd like to move forward. If there's a mutual fit, we’ll ask you to complete a short take-home. The assignment aims to allow you to showcase your skills as they pertain to the type of work you'd be doing on the job. Each distinct role has a different assignment. The assignment may also vary by expected seniority. Overall it should take you between 2-4 hours to complete the task, on your own time. We want to see your best work, so we’ll give you time and space to shine. Let us know if for some reason you can't complete the assignment, we may be able to work with you. Please note, we do not provide individualized feedback on the completed assignment prior to the face-to-face interviews.

Upon completion, a panel of engineers will review your assignment and make a decision based on the quality of the work. We qualify the solution based on the following criteria:

  • Ability to follow instructions and fill in the gaps where instructions aren't absolutely comprehensive
  • Ability to solve the problem with clean and easy to maintain code
  • Attention to detail and ability to make good decisions
  • Completeness
  • Performance considerations
  • Test quality and coverage

Upon review, we'll decide if we want to move forward to face-to-face interviews. The next step is to schedule two to three 60-minute technical interviews. The great majority of these take place over video-conferencing. Nobody likes to answer the same questions over and over, and our interviewers will make sure to cover different topics. In these interviews, we’ll go over things like:

  • Work experience, and thoughts on challenges you'd like to sink your teeth into next
  • Accomplishments you’re proud of
  • Discussions around the take-home assignment decisions
  • How you would solve real-world problems using engineering solutions

We won't ask you to code on a white-board or to solve a riddle (with or without bubble sort) however, we may ask you to join an engineer in a live pairing session. The goal of the pairing session is not to produce code that compiles or runs to a successful outcome but to help the interviewer understand your thought process. There's no wrong answer during your pairing session; it is not a quiz.

Wrapping Things Up

After the technical interviews, the interviewing team will debrief and make a decision. Should we come to the agreement we'd like to extend an offer we'll schedule a final 30-minute conversation with the candidate to discuss final logistics and answer any other questions you may have.

Improving the Process for Everyone

Happily, our engineer hiring process has worked really well. Over the years, the take-home assignment has become fairly fine-tuned. In fact, we extend offers to about 45% of the people we interview based on how they completed the assignment. We’ve found it to be a great way to put candidates on the right track and make the process more efficient.

Our method isn’t perfect, but we strive to appreciate and respect everyone’s time. And we’re always trying to make the process even better. We request anonymous feedback from those who have gone through the initial phone call, and we’ve gotten some great responses that help to make the interview process better for everyone.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at our recruiting process. Follow us @dox_engineering if you'd like to be notified of updates to this blog.

Thank you, Hannah Frank, for the illustrations.