The busuu Trial
2 weeks in a company that can change 60 million lives
Trials in tech in London are not a popular thing. In my last three years of university, I have been constantly endeavouring the market and getting to know what’s available out there in the city. Silicon Milk Roundabout has always been my favourite hub from which I would get to know about the current marketing demands in the startup ecosystem (this is also where I met busuu for the first time). However, no one had ever mentioned anything like a trial in my conversations with employers. And then I found myself, after 4 interviews with busuu, considering the opportunity of a two week trial.
busuu is London based tech business which makes the experience of learning a language easier and fun. busuu is becoming more than just a start-up. By the continuous growth of the team, improved course contents better design and social features, the product is turning into something more like a social network for learning languages.
Looking for a job as a graduate requiring a sponsorship wasn’t the easiest of things and busuu was ready to help with it. To work at busuu, I had to face four stages of interview. The overall process happened in the arc of two weeks, therefore pretty quick. The first interview on skype was with the CTO, Rob. He asked me some basic questions about Android and mostly about my intentions and side interests. The second was on skype with an Android engineer. After that one hour pair coding session with two Android engineers and CTO. And of course, the last and short was with the CEO Bernhard, who has a voice in the hiring decision. We talked about jazz piano.
The idea of the process in my mind was successful, and I was patiently waiting for the offer to come. However, the outcome was “only” a two weeks trial, which didn’t feel great as it was pretty unexpected, but the reasons were pretty clear. They explained it wasn’t the lack of skills, but to make sure they could handle someone at my level and support me as a fresh graduate. I was coming on in a junior role, so it was important that the team I was joining was going to be able to provide me with the support I need to grow as an engineer. Moreover, the sponsorship implies a long term relationship with the company, and this would allow to make a more careful decision. I knew I stood good chances, so I accepted the two weeks offer.
Why exactly two weeks? It is how long a sprint is. A sprint is a development cycle of a certain amount of task points. Every task gets granularly estimated by all members of the team and the disagreements are discussed and compromised. In fact on my first day, I assisted at my first retrospective of the last two weeks during the day and got introduced to some of the main blocks of the architecture.
My first impression of the Android application was fascinating. After developing many MVPs during hackathons, facing a big architecture with Uncle’s Bob architecture made of multiple layers of abstraction and rigorous coding style made me feel in the right place. All the possible design patterns are accompanied with its related implementation through a library. Therefore it was fascinating getting to discover this perfectly written forest.
Of course, for me it was a mystery how a self-managed company like busuu operated. However, the two weeks trial was just enough time to have an idea about how the whole process of platform improvements and creations happen. You would also find the kind of people you will be working with through the team meetings, lunches and talks in the kitchen. After that, You will surely know the answer if you are the right type for the environment.
busuu turns out to be an energetic and friendly place, hardworking and with high engineering standards. You will discover an entire platform with 12 languages courses, made of around 150 units with various types of exercises and real McGraw-Hill certificates. The tight collaboration between engineering and the education team allow to create new types of exercises with continuously improved course content. The tech therefore will always keep up with making the exercises more flexible for the education to experiment and improvise with new ways of teaching.
Being part of this mechanism is inspiring and motivating. Although I wasn’t convinced in the beginning, I am so glad I took the chance. The two weeks were extremely productive, self-criticising and rewarding. In the end, the efforts I had to put and the company during the trial, worked out well extremely well for both sides. The team I’ve joined have been massively supportive in helping me to grow and learn as an engineer. The offer arrived with slight anticipation from my CTO, giving me the best professional satisfaction so far. If you have doubts about doing a trial, understand the main reasons behind it and make a decision which suits you best. A little risk in life is always healthy.
