Warning: Hiring remote devs without Austin culture fit was a disaster

Now we do a trial project with local coffee chats to assess compatibility.

4 comments

4 Comments

The "local coffee chats" part is key. We tried the generic remote hire thing a few years back and it fell flat. The hires just didn't get our inside jokes or why we work the way we do. A quick casual meetup shows you that faster than any resume. It saves everyone a lot of pain later.

dakotab931mo agoTop Commenter

So the whole hiring process now depends on getting the inside jokes at a coffee shop? That seems like a weird way to pick who can do the actual work. I've seen teams hire a "culture fit" who was fun at coffee but couldn't finish a basic report on time. Maybe the jokes aren't that hard to learn if the person is actually good at their job.

jenkins.ryan1mo ago

At Joe's Cafe, the barista knew every regular's drink by heart!

wells.zara1mo ago

Guess that's why my resume never mentioned laughing at your boss's bad jokes.