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Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

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Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#81

Post by jensvdh »

shreyanshd wrote: post #23
Harj wrote: post #13

What was always most interesting to us about starting a recruiting company was seeing what would happen if you treated hiring as a data problem. Partly we've raised more funding for the same reason any startup does, so we can grow faster to get more customers = more revenue = more success, etc. But we're also driven by how the larger the scale we operate at, the faster we can run experiments to answer questions about…

Hey Harj, congrats! Any plans to launch TripleByte in India, or for engineers from India who want to interview with Bay Area companies?

Due to visa constraints there literally is no point in doing this.

Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#82

Post by disease »

taurath wrote: post #17

"Evaluating" 5000 engineers a month almost seems low to me - they've been going full bore with advertising and have been on the top of reddit for the last month or two (and if I remember correctly I think I've seen them on twitter and FB). With this much spend I would have thought they'd have more candidates. Maybe thats a lot!

Seeing their ads, and only their ads, on reddit constantly since forever has rubbed me the wrong way.

Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#83

Post by koopuluri »

thecombjelly wrote: post #61

Do programmers love numbers and algorithms so much they want to be reduced to them? Programmers are people and should be treated as such. Also, shouldn't we be concerned that giving one company's algorithms control over who gets hired will be too much power in too few hands? And algorithms are not neutral. The people that make the algorithms have biases and discriminations just like regular people do but at least if…

> And what about disabilities? How does your algorithm handle those? Racial bias? So many unanswerable questions.

Couldn't algorithms reduce racial bias by focusing on evaluating candidates independent of their race, and other personal attributes?

Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#86

Post by forgotmysn »

Harj wrote: post #13

What was always most interesting to us about starting a recruiting company was seeing what would happen if you treated hiring as a data problem. Partly we've raised more funding for the same reason any startup does, so we can grow faster to get more customers = more revenue = more success, etc. But we're also driven by how the larger the scale we operate at, the faster we can run experiments to answer questions about…

Do you think this process can be effectively adapted to roles outside engineering?

Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#87

Post by thecombjelly »

koopuluri wrote: post #83
thecombjelly wrote: post #61

Do programmers love numbers and algorithms so much they want to be reduced to them? Programmers are people and should be treated as such. Also, shouldn't we be concerned that giving one company's algorithms control over who gets hired will be too much power in too few hands? And algorithms are not neutral. The people that make the algorithms have biases and discriminations just like regular people do but at least if…

> And what about disabilities? How does your algorithm handle those? Racial bias? So many unanswerable questions. Couldn't algorithms reduce racial bias by focusing on evaluating candidates independent of their race, and other personal attributes?

They could but if part of the process is proprietary or hidden how can you know what it is doing?

Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#88

Post by Benjammer »

gxs wrote: post #46
Harj wrote: post #13

What was always most interesting to us about starting a recruiting company was seeing what would happen if you treated hiring as a data problem. Partly we've raised more funding for the same reason any startup does, so we can grow faster to get more customers = more revenue = more success, etc. But we're also driven by how the larger the scale we operate at, the faster we can run experiments to answer questions about…

The crux of this problem in my opinion is that long term results aren't tracked. It's hard enough internally to track someone's performance over the course of the year or two after they get hired, it would be even harder to do it if you are a recruiting company. It's especially sensitive because employers are weary of sharing employee performance data to third parties because of the high risk of a lawsuit (there is c…

>Once that data problem is bridged, it blows the problem right open for data to be explored and figure out what exactly predicts a top performer, in any field.

Yes, assuming there is some top-level "data problem" to actually bridge here...

How do we know that the concept of "top performer" isn't just a completely divergent idea that means different things to different people and different companies in different industries and different geographic areas?

Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#89

Post by triplebytelol »

tway12 wrote: post #50

Unfortunately, my experience with TripleByte was terrible and a waste of my time. I completed the interview with a very high evaluation across all categories as provided by the interviewer. There were certain areas where the interviewer messed up in their evaluation, e.g. they felt I "was a little weak at hashmaps and API design", which is probably because they did not know what I was talking about when I described t…

Throwaway, because I'm well-known on HN.

I ran the TripleByte course once, and it was 100% not worth my time as a professional.

The "coding test" was criminally simple, but got me in the door quickly for an interview. I spent a number of hours building out projects with a paired interviewer, as well as answering questions. This part I enjoyed, it felt like a nice back and forth while building an interesting bit of software. It was like an open discussion, and getting to tap away on my laptop was such an enjoyable time.

Then came the technical questions. The interviewer asked if I knew anything about a specific Technology X. I'd list the tech here by name, but it's so specific I'm afraid of it being linked back to me. It's not something most engineers would run into.

I responded with "I have not worked with that, I've heard of it" as well as it never being listed on my resume or professional work. The interviewer went ahead and simplified it down for us to discuss, much like "Ok well it works like this, so let's chat abstractly". I went along with the discussion since I figured it would be fine to chat abstractly about a technology I never worked with.

The interview concluded, we parted ways and I thought things went very well.

The following days later I received an e-mail from Triplebyte. They praised my clean code and thought process, but specifically said my weakness in said Technology X, which I would like to call out again I never worked with professional nor had it listed as a skill or on my resume, was too much to consider me for the next round.

TripleByte literally evaluated, and discounted me, on not knowing an uncommon bit of technology. Just what the hell.

I was shocked at the levels of failures that occurred to reach this point. It was unfair to use that as any benchmark, and unfair to waste a day of my time doing that. It was a smack in the face to an industry vet like myself.

I tell all job seekers to stay far, far away from TripleByte for this reason. They're not really changing the game at all, but like to pretend they are the magic answer.

One footnote: I'm an engineer at one of the giants (Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, etc) who was and is way more qualified than anything TripleByte was or is pushing out.

Re: Triplebyte Raises $10M from Initialized Capital, Marissa Mayer and Paul Graham

#90

Post by alimhaq »

Harj wrote: post #13

What was always most interesting to us about starting a recruiting company was seeing what would happen if you treated hiring as a data problem. Partly we've raised more funding for the same reason any startup does, so we can grow faster to get more customers = more revenue = more success, etc. But we're also driven by how the larger the scale we operate at, the faster we can run experiments to answer questions about…

Just wanted to say thank you! I used Triplebyte to find the company I'm currently working for, and I've had a wonderful time here so far. The process took a little longer than I had anticipated, but it was well worth it :)
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