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Rethinking Triplebyte

triplebyte.com

341–350 of 463 posts

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never, ever, ever give anyone a number until the salary negotiation stage of the interview (ie. after I've been given a job offer), and even then I only give the company a number as a counter to their offer. I always do this negotiation myself, and never let anyone else negotiate for me. Almost all recruiters have been fine with that, but a couple haven't. To such people I wish a good day and go my own way. There a…

On hiring side we screen folks out pretty quickly who can't discuss money. I used to be much more relaxed about this, but if you get burned doing a few rounds of interviews and it was a waste you wise up pretty quickly - teams do not like time wasted. I've also found that folks who can't / won't talk money - usually not great hires for a bunch of reasons. We're happy to talk through the different positions, levels, p…

Giving a number early on in the process only weakens my position when it comes time to negotiate, waiting for an intital offer to counter is in my best interest. I apologize if that makes me a 'not great hire'.

If you're happy to provide a range, great, if I'm still there doesn't that generally indicate that the range is in line with my expectations?

I guess your comment kind of makes sense, I can see how corporate might interpret 'this person looks out for themselves' as a potentially bad hire.

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never, ever, ever give anyone a number until the salary negotiation stage of the interview (ie. after I've been given a job offer), and even then I only give the company a number as a counter to their offer. I always do this negotiation myself, and never let anyone else negotiate for me. Almost all recruiters have been fine with that, but a couple haven't. To such people I wish a good day and go my own way. There a…

On hiring side we screen folks out pretty quickly who can't discuss money. I used to be much more relaxed about this, but if you get burned doing a few rounds of interviews and it was a waste you wise up pretty quickly - teams do not like time wasted. I've also found that folks who can't / won't talk money - usually not great hires for a bunch of reasons. We're happy to talk through the different positions, levels, p…

> On hiring side we screen folks out pretty quickly who can't discuss money.

That’s because it benefits you as an employer.

I’ve been on the hiring side and I know there’s a budget. If someone is too high you want to push them out right away.

My flatmate in Singapore about 6 years ago was looking for a new job. Her salary was about 2200/m and she said the recruiter kept asking about salary.

I told her not to discuss it. She doesn’t /need/ a new job. If the company really values her then they will give her an offer. They have a budget. They offered her around 4600/m.

If she told them she was on 2200 it’s guaranteed they would have given her only a small bump.

Companies should never ask for salary info. Because it’s only used to get cheap labour.

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never, ever, ever give anyone a number until the salary negotiation stage of the interview (ie. after I've been given a job offer), and even then I only give the company a number as a counter to their offer. I always do this negotiation myself, and never let anyone else negotiate for me. Almost all recruiters have been fine with that, but a couple haven't. To such people I wish a good day and go my own way. There a…

On hiring side we screen folks out pretty quickly who can't discuss money. I used to be much more relaxed about this, but if you get burned doing a few rounds of interviews and it was a waste you wise up pretty quickly - teams do not like time wasted. I've also found that folks who can't / won't talk money - usually not great hires for a bunch of reasons. We're happy to talk through the different positions, levels, p…

I've been a hiring manager in tech for a long time now, and recently as a candidate. As has already been commented, all companies have a budget. They may be able to increase that for the right candidate, but there is always a range, why not disclose that? As a candidate I know I'm not wasting my time, and the actual during the actual negotiation, its then that the 'value' of the new candidate to the org can be assessed. Pay people what they are worth, which is of course a reflection of their experience, talent, and attitude.

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#344
I did a triplebyte interview once. I come from a Computer Engineering background, which was more or less spun off from Electrical Engineering. We learned a lot about low level stuff and signal processing, not so much about discrete math and algorithms. For me their interview was focused on Computer Science and Web development, which I didn't really do.

The interview itself was nice and ok, the feedback was really appreciated (after all this more or less reflects what high paying programming recruiters are looking for). But I felt like there was no place for people with my background.

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#345

I see a lot of people in the comments describe triplebyte as a “market leader” and discuss how good they are. I can’t believe how gullible everyone is especially on a startup forum. Let me spell it out to y’all, nobody pivots and changes their entire business model if they are crushing it. So the implication is that triplebyte are not crushing it. So, this probably has gone the same way as lots of other tech startups…

I'm really curious who is USING this company for their recruiting. As a IC I've been approached a lot by them, tried taking one of their tests, was turned off.

And as a HM, I was never interesting in using them, and we continue to use our own internal recruiters or local recruiters who know the market.

Having worked at a startup that was trying to disrupt the hiring/recruiting market back in 2010. I'm curious to how effective they were....if at all.

Edit: update, maybe I'm super skeptical because of all their cheesy ads that were all over Reddit for so long?

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#346

I see a lot of people in the comments describe triplebyte as a “market leader” and discuss how good they are. I can’t believe how gullible everyone is especially on a startup forum. Let me spell it out to y’all, nobody pivots and changes their entire business model if they are crushing it. So the implication is that triplebyte are not crushing it. So, this probably has gone the same way as lots of other tech startups…

I interviewed with triplebyte about 5 years ago. They rejected me saying that my editor skills were good but I didn't pass the mark because I couldn't find enough bugs in a program fast enough while being watched. This was really good for me as my subsequent decisions took me to where I'm now as a lead architect of a US startup, earning 5 figures USD while living in LatAm.

On related matters. I know several companies that have pivoted out of the "hiring/recruiting" space because apparently that space is not easy to scale/automate.

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used TripleByte to recruit people for a startup without paying, by asking people to sign up for the test and screenshot the answers and collecting the scores at the end. I already had an inbound funnel, I just liked your test when I saw it the first time. In 2015, candidates with the same schooling scored about 20 percentage points lower than 2020, the last candidates I used the test for. The number of questions do…

Pedigree filtering is most often myopic elitism, especially in a business context. Anecdotally, I avoided MIT and Harvard because of Boston's snow and traffic. CalTech is Pasadena: too frick'n hot. I didn't study at all for the SAT-I and aced the math section. (The SAT should be more like the JEE.) I went to an expensive, "top 50" public university where I liked the area. Also, it was more practical and rigorous acad…

You sound like a crazy person, though maybe this post is a joke.

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#348
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair comment. I certainly don't think of us as a market leader. LinkedIn is the market leader. Honestly, the last year has been pretty hard for us (COVID and the problems with our model that I talk about in the post). That said, I think a hiring process that puts engineers in control (no ghosting, get data on when a recruiter looks at your application, search ranking by whether companies lie to candidates) is somethi…

You want to build it, or you want to make money off it? As CEO, you: * Grossly expanded profiles without user permission. * Laid off tons of staff right before the COVID lockdowns. (What has been your personal returns since April 1, 2020 by the way?) * You have been privy to discrimination happening in client company on-sites yet did nothing to the client companies. You’re a CFO, an investor. You’re not a CEO, and yo…

Interesting I was only aware of their constant polluting of Hackernews with bad article-vertisements

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#349

I see a lot of people in the comments describe triplebyte as a “market leader” and discuss how good they are. I can’t believe how gullible everyone is especially on a startup forum. Let me spell it out to y’all, nobody pivots and changes their entire business model if they are crushing it. So the implication is that triplebyte are not crushing it. So, this probably has gone the same way as lots of other tech startups…

I think the negative comments here are being a little unfair. It sounds like you've had a really terrible experience with TB. I get if that's your experience and interpretation, but TB are not superficial hawkers of products without fit or substance. They are passionate and intelligent and friendly engineers and weirdos who genuinely care about making a good startup and helping developers and companies match.

My experience is different. I've been through the TB process three times, back in 2017 where they flew me to SF from Asia for Flexport, Mixpanel and two smaller startups, and then again this year where I went to the final stage with FB production engineering and TB itself. And in between as well i created yet another profile on the system after shelving prior ones for a fresh start. I have a non traditional background, (ie, an "outsider" developer, chem degree and self taught hobbyist programmer since young), i take my craft seriously, have a bunch of popular open source products and a successful low touch indie business. But i don't consider future success guaranteed so i like to keep talking to companies to find that great opportunity for me. I know my tech skills in some areas are not the best so i like to stay in the loop, stay up to date and relevant and stay in touch with what companies are looking for. By far the best hiring process experiences I've had have all been through the TB platform. And my "open rate" for applications and inbound interest on TB is way higher than any other methods I've tried (SO jobs, WWR, HN). The quality of companies, hiring process and level of interest I've received via TB has been epic and, at least in the past, even the TB support staff are super helpful going so far as to provide personalized feedback on profile improvements and resumes. I'm not an expert at getting hired but i couldn't have asked for anything more from them. They were fantastic. I only have great and wonderful memories of the time i spent in hiring processes of companies i "met" via TB. So this is my experience of it, and this is despite the fact that i have never ever received an offer from any company I have met on TB, including from TB itself. I don't blame them. I just consider my own skills are not at the right level, and the fit is not right for the companies I've met, while i work to improve myself and my skills. That's all. It's a simple and beautiful experience I've had with them. Soooo different to hiring through other platforms (where funnily enough i have recieved offers). I've met and talked to ammon and many other TB team members and they have all been cool, friendly, passionate people. From what I'm reading of this pivot, they're being vulnerable and open to learning, and using what they've learned so far to create something even better. I'm not gullible, I'm not saying they will succeed. But they're trying. And they're earnest and sincere. What more can you ask for? This has been my deep experience with them. I think the most vocal critics are talking merely theoretically without any experience of TB nor deep nor accurate understanding of who they are, what they do and what they stand for. To them i say, give it a try. Investigate before contempt! ;P ;) xx

Re: Rethinking Triplebyte

#350
post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know much about them, but the post does say their goal was to be "exclusive gatekeepers". If you consider it from that perspective, they had more like a 1/3 conversion rate (2/3 * 1/2). But conversion kind of seems like the wrong metric.

What metric would make more sense here, though? I can agree that from TBs perspective, they may not factor total applicants as their base # (although that is clearly their market). However this exclusivity of only using the small percentage they accept doesn’t seem to be a scalable business model. Having 1% of the devs who try their service actually accept an offer would not entice me to try their service.

>However this exclusivity of only using the small percentage they accept doesn’t seem to be a scalable business model.

For sure. That's very likely why they're making this pivot. Exclusivity was their goal, but it just turned out to not be a very profitable goal for them, it seems. I was basically just saying it seemed to be a "theory" issue rather than an "implementation/execution" issue.

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