How Lyft, Intercom, BlaBlaCar, and Uber Attract Top Talent

Four engineering leaders from Lyft, Intercom, BlaBlaCar, and Uber shared how they attracting the best engineers to their companies during the Plato event hosted on June 29, 2017 in Paris.

Quang HOANG
Jul 26, 2017 · 5 min read

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Four Engineering Leaders from Uber, Lyft, Intercom and BlaBlaCar

As part of the “Engineering Management Talks with Plato“ event, we invited a panel to discuss “Building an Engineering Structure to Attract the Best Talent.” The panel participants included:

How does the engineer hiring process work at IT companies?

Staffing is one of an engineering manager’s biggest responsibilities — whether a company is large or small, it’s the engineering manager who oversees the hiring funnel. That funnel may have several stages, including phone screens, hard and soft skill tests, interviews, and even panels. Although small tech startups and large IT giants have different staffing priorities and hire people with diverse backgrounds, their hiring processes are similar, and both consider things like the funnel structure and applicant-to-hire ratio. All of the panelists agreed that only a handful of people out of the hundred or so who go through the funnel are hired.

What are the differences between small and big companies when it comes to attracting quality engineering talent?

Smaller IT companies, such as most new startups, can’t expect top-notch engineers to appear out of the blue and say, “I like your story, and I want to work with you.” That’s exactly why engineering managers need to be proactively finding talent — because this talent probably won’t find them. The panelists shared tips on how to go about finding those individuals.

How do exemplary tech companies balance between hard and soft skills when hiring engineering staff?

Engineers may appear to some as people of math and measurements, but that’s just on the surface. They’re still humans, but their people skills are required to a greater or lesser extent depending on the company’s values, developmental stage, strategy, and culture. Hard skills remain the core competency, but it should not be the only criterion for hiring an engineer. The panel participants discussed how their companies measure a candidate’s soft skills.

While candidates pitch their skills and experience to the company, there’s something the company needs to pitch to them: its culture

Pitching the company culture is not just a placeholder standard every company needs to tell. A good “culture pitch” lets all potential applicants know whether that company is a good fit for them or not, and filters out applicants who do not align with the company’s values and plans.

In small companies, the founders may be the main drivers of the company culture. The culture is something that must be nurtured from the very beginning of the company, and consists of beliefs in the company’s founder(s) in its promising future states.

Tasmeen mentioned that Uber has developed a unique culture where a close bond between the company and the employee is a must. All employees should love the story of Uber and proudly contribute to the company’s well-being.

Consider hiring freelance talent

Freelancing is one of the fastest growing trends in the economy. It has arisen from the information technology, which remains a core industry and the leading freelance work market. Despite the fact that engineering remains associated with long-term commitment and persistent company-employee relations, freelancers are still a viable solution for many project-based company efforts.

Check out the full video of the panel discussion below. And if you’d like to watch more of the presentations from the event, be sure to visit our YouTube channel!


Plato is a community of top-notch engineering leaders who dedicate 30 minutes of their time per week to have calls to help engineering managers, or engineers who are currently transitioning to management roles, face their challenges. Sign up to become a mentor or to be mentored.

Inside Plato

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Quang HOANG

Written by

CEO @PlatoHQ (YC, Slack and SaaStr funded)|| You’re a great Engineer; become a great Engineering Leader — Find your perfect mentor: www.platohq.com

Inside Plato

Plato helps engineering leaders develop soft skills + build better teams through a powerful network of Mentors from the world's best companies.

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