CultureTalk Episode 1 with Máté Farkas from Hotjar

A healthy company culture and diversity are two of the most important things you should be looking for when applying to a new company. According to our experience here at IseeQ, companies who pay attention to their teams and environment are able to employ happier and better performing workers. On the first episode of our CultureTalk series, we interviewed Máté Farkas, a forward-thinking JavaScript engineer working for Hotjar. The company was founded in 2014 and is known for its innovative and conscious practices in building successful remote teams with great levels of team cohesion. Máté claims to be a dynamic and result-driven, multidisciplinary person with a can-do attitude, and even before applying to the job, he knew his values would be shared by the firm. How is one able to determine if a position will be a good fit? And to go even further, how can you know if you found your ideal workplace among millions of opportunities? Let’s see all this from a software engineer’s perspective!

“Transparency, mutual respect and straightforward communication are the basis of our company culture”

Máté was familiar with Hotjar long before he saw the opening. By the time he sent his CV, he ran some circles on their website, blog, and other references and concluded that they were actively after people who share their views in relation to work. It was visible that team fit was just as much of a priority as skills, and the published articles gave a clear picture of the personality they were looking for.

For Máté, the selection process lasted for 4-5 weeks altogether, with multiple rounds of interviews, all examining different aspects of his personality and expertise. Based on our market knowledge, we find this duration is ideal for both parties, as it gives enough space and time for proper consideration. Employers tend to lose candidates due to overly stretched-out application procedures, and it can be really difficult to find the silver lining when determining the time frame. As most job-seekers interview at more firms at the same time, they can potentially receive another offer any second. We recommend trying to minimize the waiting period and keep your top-picks engaged through frequent communication. Hotjar fully supports their candidates through the journey, not only mentally but financially too. They offer compensation for lengthy coding assignments that are part of the entry requirements and also provide valuable feedback on the finished product during an evaluating interview. We see these as gestures that keep the candidates invested and motivated, by making them feel that their time is valued. It’s important to know that the more experience a person has, the less likely are they to do home assignments for free. Senior colleagues know how much their time’s worth, and doing tasks without any form of compensation might simply be out of their niche.

At Hotjar, candidates even have the chance to correct their possible mistakes in rounds that follow the home assignment, and explain how they would assess the task differently after the received corrections. Many people make mistakes under the spotlight, but failures caused by anxiety and excitement will not necessarily contribute to a negative evaluation. It’s much more important for them to be able to detect and tackle these problems. Máté was even able to enjoy the tasks, and he also found the interviews more interactive and engaging. He never felt bombarded by questions neither from recruiters, nor from team leads, and was able to pose all the questions he had in mind. In fact, asking questions was encouraged and supported, and he found all the answers honest and valuable. A more straightforward and open approach might be rare from the side of companies, but it helps to avoid mismatches and future troubles. The last rounds of evaluation focused on problem-solving and understanding more difficult technical problems, and then it was all about team fit. Professional experience and background, technical skills and other traits were examined, they were looking for all kinds of common ground. Receiving an offer concluded the process.

“Finding your place in a fully remote team has its own challenges, but it is very much possible”

Hotjar is known for its well-functioning remote teams, with employees from all over the globe. For this reason, both the selection and the onboarding processes are 100% online. Even though physical meet-ups are eliminated partly thanks to the pandemic, new hires don’t miss out on anything. The company is able to provide tools that make connecting colleagues easier, which abolish most of the boundaries of online communication. Here at IseeQ we also incorporate apps like Discord and Telegram to help with our conversations, they proved to facilitate all our needs perfectly. At Hotjar, newcomers are provided with a Trello board that allows them to see all their tasks and responsibilities in a definite and codified way. During the first week of onboarding, it mainly consists of creating your work accounts, reading through documentation and introduction calls, but next week you proceed to a new, developers onboarding panel. This is the time your team elects an onboarding buddy to help the entering colleague with guidance through the local developers’ environment and with answers to every possible question. Máté described the whole team to be super supportive and helpful, so he quickly adjusted to his new role. Having separate onboardings for different fields of daily tasks is beneficial for the thorough understanding of multiple groups of responsibilities. Mentoring systems are also close to our heart, our teams function in a similar setting, and we usually recommend it to our clients as well. It makes welcoming new talent to the team easier at any level, and according to our observations, newcomers tend to appreciate it as well.

“We build trust by transparency, by giving each other radically candid feedback in a genuine way”

While Trello boards provide helpful general guidelines to kickstart the progress of newcomers at Hotjar, after some time employees start to discuss career development matters with their team leads. They are able to provide continuous feedback and opportunities to discuss any determinate problems during regular 1 on 1 meetings, and also act as orchestrators of the performance reviews. The first review is conducted 6 months after someone joins the company, and is also repeated every 6 months. It includes a self-evaluation module and assessment from nominated peers. The result is a document full of valuable insights that can serve each as a north-star in their professional development process. It also lays out areas for improvement, while appreciating strengths and helping to pinpoint specific career goals. The whole procedure is an organized, collaborative and supportive manner, so everyone is able to achieve their highest potential.

“We recognize the importance of personal communication aside professional discussions”

Máté says they try to maintain personal relationships with colleagues too. There are multiple online tools they use for communication: Slack and Discourse are two of the most prominent. The latter gives the opportunity to share some topics that are not work-related. New colleagues also have to write 10 fun facts about themselves to this channel upon arrival. This helps to identify common topics and also provokes new conversations. They also try to take some time from the busy workdays to get to know each other. Máté told us about a meeting during which team members taught the others to say “Good morning” in their own language. In this instance, it meant Greek, Irish, Swahili, Portuguese, Maltese, and Hungarian.

Team buildings are also a great way to maintain team cohesion. The online space offers countless opportunities- Hotjar usually organizes 2 gatherings yearly. Airbnb experiences, virtual escape rooms and meditation training are all things the teams took part in together. A platform called 15Five is also one of these practices, it collects shout-outs dedicated to well-performing team members, to give kudos to all people that are the most deserving. During the pandemic, most firms had to adapt to a remote setting for the first time in their history. There’s a lot to learn from companies like Hotjar, which organized their teams remotely from the beginning. Employees who are newly introduced to this setup might feel isolated and overwhelmed, so there’s an increased demand for creative team buildings and stable communication. There are multiple platforms available that were designed to substitute office traditions, like chitchats over coffee or simply the feeling of others’ presence around us. Depending on the restrictions, online or outside gatherings can be organized to combat the feeling of isolation. Creativity is the key, and the sky is the limit.

“Diversity and working with respect are key priorities”

There’s a conscious effort from the company to encourage diversity, and also to advocate for the method everywhere it’s possible. Máté sees diversity in all dimensions of Hotjar, from production to each team’s communication. Every discussion is led in a respectful and empathetic manner, may it be between teams or colleagues. The whole environment feels safe, accepting, comforting and supportive, the ultimate goal is for everyone to feel equally important, and brave enough to share anything they like. This facilitates a happy team in a healthy community.

Hotjar considers itself culturally diverse, as they are lucky enough to employ people from multiple nationalities and cultures. This way their product is backed by multiple viewpoints from people with different backgrounds, but more importantly, they were able to establish an empathetic and welcoming environment. A bigger talent pool is also available to them, as they hire from all over the world, and with a diverse team come more creative approaches and thinking methods. They are on a mission to abolish customs that put minorities and underrepresented groups at a disadvantage. Employees try to use gender-neutral language to encourage all to be a part of conversations and also pay attention to women’s rights. The company recently joined the #ChooseToChallenge movement, which focuses on targeting the underrepresentation of women in different sectors. The tech industry is only one of the many which are heavily involved in this problem, so both Hotjar and IseeQ find it really important to recognize the room for improvement and speak up about the topic.

We are in awe of all the wonderful efforts modern companies are taking to modernize their teams and company cultures. Hotjar is one of the many success stories that serve as proof that remote teams and forward-thinking methods can perform just as well as traditional ones, while also helping employees to maintain a healthier work-life balance at a greater level of freedom.

We are thankful to Máté for sharing his insights and experiences and wish him the best of luck in his career.

If you have a similar story to share, we are excited to hear from you, feel free to approach us!