Last year, I applied for a job as a programmer at 37signals. I made it through to the final 10(ish) candidates and got to have a crack at the take-home exercise, but ultimately failed to progress beyond that stage.
Not landing your dream job is rarely a fun thing to have happen to you. But I actually did enjoy running the application gauntlet and, more importantly, I felt like I learned a few useful things along the way.
I also remember hearing Jorge Manrubia say that he was rejected from 37signals something like five times before he finally convinced them (i.e. you!) to hire him. And I figure if multiple application attempts are good enough for Jorge, they're good enough for me.
So, here we go again. Take two at me applying for a programming role at 37signals. At the very least, I'm aspiring to fail better this time.
(More) about me
In my previous application, I laid out why I want to work at 37signals and what I think I would bring to the table. Those points still stand, although I'll try not to retread the same ground again here.
Instead, I thought I'd say a little more about how I like to work. In 37signals parlance, my preferred working style is best described as Manager of One™.
For about 18 months across 2021 and 2022, I was a literal Manager of One – which is to say I was the only person working on the dev side of Code & Co. I was essentially a developer, designer and product manager all balled into one, and one thing I quickly discovered about this setup is that I was able to get heaps of stuff done.
I don't mean to suggest there's no place for teams, specialization, collaboration, and the like, but rather that there is a profound productivity boost to be unlocked when you rid yourself of endless meetings, overbearing processes, and drawn-out decision-making.
I'm now CTO of the company and our dev team has grown to seven in total: six programmers and a designer. But, despite this growth, I have tried to ensure that the same conditions that allowed me to work freely remain available to everyone.
This means giving each member real ownership over their work, protecting large blocks of uninterrupted time, and valuing quality output over rigid process adherence. We've built a culture where everyone acts as their own manager, setting their own priorities and holding themselves accountable to deliver damn good work without being made to endure needless faff along the way.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I know that 37signals fosters and promotes a similar culture. I want to work with people who have faith in me to get the job done, and give me the space and focus I need to to really get cracking.
At the end of the day, I want to build great software with other people who care about building great software, sans any bloated bureaucracy that stifles progress. The fact that this would be the case at 37signals (I think/hope!) is every bit as central to my interest in working for the company as the whole We Invented Rails side of the equation.
Something I've Done
I've shared some snippets and text about Germ in a separate part of my application, but also wanted to (re)share an example that leans heavily on Hotwire to create an advanced feature out of simple code.
It's a Notion-style text editor I created for our consultants, who use it daily to write their reports. Outside of the odd AI API call, the whole thing runs entirely vanilla Rails, and I can confirm it's been a joy to build.
Parting Thoughts
Applying for programmer roles at 37signals is a daunting task, given the volume and quality of candidates you surely receive.
Completing take-home exercises at 37signals, for me at least, is more daunting still, since you need to find a way to stand out in a pack of 10+ exceptional devs without the aid of quirky little HEY-inspired blog posts ;)
Last time around, I think I tried to do too much to prove myself. I over-engineered what was in reality a fairly straightforward task and, ironically, I don't think the solution I submitted resembled the approach I would have taken in the real world.
In the end, I wasn't surprised by and couldn't fault the feedback I received: "If you apply in the future, we would love to see you demonstrate more pragmatism in your exercise". Fair enough.
This time, if I'm lucky enough to make it through to the next round, I want to bring my real self forward and submit something that better reflects how I actually like to solve problems. This still may not guarantee success, but at least it means I'll fail better!