From First Ascent to my Bachelor’s Thesis: My Crazy Journey with Bending Spoons
It all started 527 days ago. On February 19, 2020, a friend showed me a Facebook ad for First Ascent, a multi-day event celebrating “Europe’s finest Computer Science and Software Engineering students.” My friend clearly knows me very well — I was SUPER interested!
By Arina Raileanu, Data Science Intern
A bit of light Googling revealed that Bending Spoons was behind the event — a Milan-based company making a big splash on the tech scene. Being based in Romania, not exactly just round the corner from Milan, I figured my chances of being accepted were pretty low. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that. I submitted my First Ascent application that night.
SPOILER: What followed was the most unusual, entertaining, and yes, downright unexpected application experience I’ve ever had!
An intense application process for First Ascent
Shortly afterward, they got back to me via email with a link to some logic-based problems developed by Bending Spoons, and another test provided by an external vendor. Each problem took 30–60 minutes to solve and consisted of multiple questions designed to test your reasoning, analytical skills, and intuitive understanding of math and stats. I was a little intimidated at first, but quickly found them fun to solve. Each one had its own well-written, entertaining story, which certainly helped keep me engaged.
The next (and final!) test was to take on a programming challenge in the language of my choice. We had two weeks to complete the task, with an emphasis on robustness. Thankfully, I’d had plenty of practice as I’d previously written dozens of unit tests, which helped me discover and fix edge cases and bugs. Overall, I felt good about my solution, and was delighted to hear that I made it through to the interview phase.
The interview was via Google Meet and was more of a friendly chat to discuss my background and aspirations. I was impressed that this company I’d never heard of until the First Ascent ad was achieving awesome things, and I knew I wanted to be involved in some way.
All in all, it took a month from application to decision. The email arrived: I was one of the 20 students selected out of over 700 applicants from all over Europe! Delighted didn’t cover it!
COVID-19 has the last laugh
This was in April 2020 — but, as the COVID-19 situation got worse, it became clear that running First Ascent wasn’t going to be feasible. The event was postponed, for the safety of the attendees. Thoroughly disheartened, but determined not to let all my effort go to waste, I asked my contact from the First Ascent team about the possibility of joining Bending Spoons. She was encouraging, but I thought the chances were slim — particularly since I wanted to work remotely from Romania. Actually, super slim, as I was interested in doing my Bachelor’s thesis in Machine Learning — which meant more tests and interviews.
So, with low expectations, I re-entered the world of logic and programming problems. Although the programming problems were really tricky, my background in competitive programming was definitely a plus in terms of thinking clearly under pressure. It also served me well in my final two interviews: First, a behavioral interview with my recruiter, then one with a final set of logic-based problems (where it was important to clearly communicate the conclusions I could draw from them). Finally, I had a call with my prospective manager to assess my current technical level and develop a plan of action for my Bachelor’s thesis. Despite my lack of experience, I was clear that I wanted to focus my thesis on Machine Learning, and he supported me 100% in that ambition. So that’s what I did!
Life as a Spooner
Fast-forward to today: I’ve just extended my contract at Bending Spoons over the summer, and I’m absolutely loving being a Spooner. Sometimes I think about how different things would have been if my friend hadn’t noticed that ad on Facebook that day. I’m sure glad he did!
What advice would I give to anyone considering applying for Bending Spoons or an event like First Ascent? Just go for it! The worst that can happen is that you invest time in some tests that are actually super interesting and fun. They’re a great learning experience. And the best that can happen? You can be part of a constantly evolving, ambitious tribe of Spooners who are hands down the nicest, most supportive and creative crew you’re likely to ever work with! I can’t recommend applying highly enough.
If you’re eager to find out more about this amazing team, check out our career page!
