Last year we received 13,000+ resumes for HW engineering. We hired an astoundingly low percentage of those people, despite trying to grow. Why? Because we already have a very talented team, and we only hire engineers who we think will make the team even better. We take a systematic approach to determining this, but that’s a story for another day.
Given the interest, I thought I would share some tips on how to get hired as a hardware engineer at Formlabs!
Resume screen
- Send us a project portfolio. Whether it’s personal or work projects, we want to see what you spend your time on. We value projects that are technically complex and meaningful to the world.
- We look for an upward trajectory. Even for entry level positions, we look for growth of responsibilities in internships, growing complexity in personal projects, leadership roles on school projects, etc.
- List accomplishments and results on your resume, not just things you worked on.
- Don’t apply to 10 roles, that reeks of desperation! Pick 1 to 3 roles that you think are your best fit.
The interviews
- We are not looking for the “right” answer to our questions. We are trying to understand how you think through problems. So explain your thought process to us along with any answers you give.
- If we challenge you on an answer, be open minded. Make sure to ask clarifying questions if you need to, and if you think we are wrong, feel free to tell us! We value differing opinions and have a culture of healthy debate. Just make sure you can clearly communicate why we are wrong :)
- Try to think beyond the technical solutions. In real life product development, there are many solutions beyond the technical ones.
- Use concise communication that gets straight to the point
Who we hire
- Engineers who are motivated to a fault by shipping meaningful products, and seamlessly tie their technical work to customer value.
- Systems thinking engineers who have a specific skill, like CAD, PCB design, optical design, etc. Generalists over specialists.
- We value critical thinking, decision making, grit, work ethic, and a sense of ownership over specific experience. Technical skills can always be learned by someone who is smart.
- We hire people who we think can grow and succeed at Formlabs on the 5 year time horizon. We never hire someone just because they have a technical skill we could use for the next month.
I hope that is helpful! We currently have more impactful things to work on than people to do the work. We are trying to grow the HW engineering team by 30% over the next 6 months to solve that problem…and, no, we did not just raise a funding round, we are scaling the old fashioned way, using operating profits :)
If any of this resonates with you, drop us a resume (and project portfolio) at https://lnkd.in/eewjreFg
