Interviewing Engineers at Semaphore

Semaphore's hiring process prioritizes finding engineers who align with its company culture, emphasizing qualities such as open-mindedness, collaboration, and a thirst for learning. The remote company conducts a structured interview process over two weeks, consisting of five or six video calls, designed to be fair and unbiased by including interviewers from various departments and maintaining consistent questions for all candidates. Semaphore aims to hire software engineers who possess strong computer science fundamentals and problem-solving skills, rather than framework-specific expertise, to ensure they can tackle unconventional challenges. The process includes a live coding session and a system design or debugging task to evaluate technical and collaborative skills, avoiding gimmicky questions that do not reflect real job requirements. Semaphore's approach has evolved to avoid time-consuming homework assignments and unrealistic tests, focusing instead on the practical skills needed for successful engineering roles.