Recruitment experiences at Rakettitiede – part 1/3: The first bite
We asked our latest Rakettitiede developers how they discovered the company, what they thought about the recruitment process and how they’ve enjoyed their time onboard the Rocket so far.
In early 2018, we published a popular three-part blog post dealing with our rocket scientists’ recruitment experiences. Much water has flowed under all the Vantaanjoki river bridges in the past two years and so many new rocket scientists have boarded our rocket ship that we decided to do an update and interview our most recent resources. We will publish the experiences of these rocket scientists in a series of three blog posts. Scroll down to read the first one.
Touching base: what did you know about Rakettitiede beforehand, and what did the company look like from the outside?
“I came across Rakettitiede’s name and logo on LinkedIn and for some reason couldn’t resists clicking on the ad. I was taken by surprise when I realised the advert wasn’t promoting a rocket engine manufacturer.” Joni, resource #40
Our company was relatively unknown to some of our new rocket scientists. After all, compared to many competitors, Rakettitiede is still a small consultancy with 37 employees and a turnover of some 4 million euros (2019). Some of our new recruits had noticed our company in the depths of LinkedIn, MeetFrank and Facebook, among others, and, typically enough, a couple of coders knew one of our resources from before.
After talking to our existing rocket scientists and consulting Google, our candidates started getting the basic idea: Rakettitiede does software consulting, our developers are mainly seniors, and our salary is fair.
“I was impressed by the MeetFrank app poster, very unique style 🙂 And frankly, the salary was really attractive. [- -] From what I heard about the company, everyone is chill but you have to be really good to get in. [- -] All sounded good to me so I decided to apply even though I really doubted getting accepted given the fact that I’m like a kiddo compared with other scientists – some know about computers before I knew how to read! :)” Bao, resource #37
“The company had a no-nonsense vibe and appeared to possess a slightly different sense of humour. The salary policy was attractive too, of course.” Resource #33
“Rakettitiede’s ad first caught my eye on LinkedIn. The ad tickled me just right (especially what it said about the pay) so I decided to do a bit more googling. Finding the company’s Facebook page and website were to my budding interest as the first cup of coffee in the morning is to a coder.” Tuomas, resource #34
“I realised that this was something very interesting and beautiful, something I wish I had been aware of a long time ago.” Joni, resource #40
“I saw Marko’s interview on Facebook, and the salary policy seemed fair. [- -] The company’s attitude towards ball pits appealed to me as well.” Hannu, resource #38
How did the first encounter go?
The words honesty and no-nonsense were mentioned in many of the comments our newbies made about their first meeting with our rocket scientists either at a traditional job interview or at the speed dating event at HackerX. The first encounters reinforced the prior knowledge and assumptions the applicants had regarding, for example, the competence of their coder colleagues.
“Marko seemed like a nice guy based on our speed date. [- -] The things that I remembered afterwards were Rakettitiede’s unusual name, fun logo, small size and the fact that the company’s scientists were slightly more experienced and older than the average consultant.” Joona, resource #36
Several people mentioned that the first date was more like a casual chat, not a painfully long third degree interrogation. The Rocket left a laid-back impression: technical competence was checked carefully but quickly, and the remainder of the time was dedicated to talking about other (technical) topics, such as the AI hype or the impact of technology on everyone’s lives.
“Really relaxed. Everyone seemed laid back and it was highly informal, which I really enjoyed. We ended up chatting about private things as well, which gave me confidence that this might be the right spot.” Johnny, resource #39
“When I arrived at the office, I clearly stepped into a space that was radiating interest in and love for all kinds of super-cyber-fantasy-related stuff – some might say ’nerdy things’. So it was like coming home!” Joni, resource #40
“To me it was like a casual discussion between two tech guys. No pressure, nothing like ‘given the problem, find the best way to solve it pla pla’. It was extremely chill.” Bao, resource #37
“I had my first real contact with Rakettitiede when I received an invitation to the HackerX recruitment event. I had been weighing my options, so the invitation was a stroke of luck. At the first meeting, I got a really good idea of what the company is and what it does.” Mikko, resource #30
A few words about the recruitment process
Our somewhat lengthy recruitment process was appreciated by our latest developers although it also baffled some of them. Each of our rocket scientist candidates is put through the hoops before they are hired, because we want both sides to be sure of their commitment.
“After the first meeting, I was convinced I had found my spiritual home on board the Rocket. The second lunch meeting with an old rocket scientist felt empowering, as I was still nervous about entering the precarious and unpredictable realm of consulting after spending time in the numbingly safe corporate world.” Tuomas, resource #34
Here’s a quick recap of how our recruitment process works: the applicant contacts us and it doesn’t take long before they have a chat with our Interim CEO Marko on the phone. After this, the potential new recruit, Marko and a carefully chosen rocket scientist meet, talk some more and look at some code the developer thinks is representative of their work (in other words, not your typical “Code till you drop” meeting). After the interview, the applicant is sent to have breakfast, lunch or a pint with one or two future fellow consultant colleagues. At the meeting, the applicant will hear what working onboard the Rocket is like. This is followed by the final round: a meeting with the rocket accelerators who help to match the right project with the right person. When there’s a match, a new rocket scientist is ready to board the Rocket!
In the next instalment of the Recruitment Experiences series, we will delve into the thoughts of new rocket scientists before their final decision to join team Rocket and the factors that eventually led them to say “I do”.
Does Rakettitiede sound like an interesting place to work? We’re looking for more embedded, mobile and full stack developers – read more and apply!
Read the rest of the series: