How to build an effective engineering culture & communicate that to your candidates

Organizations are suddenly asking a lot of their engineering teams. In the past software was seen as nice to have, but now it’s seen as a core part of the business and a source of competitive advantage. As a result, organizations are looking to their engineering teams to build and maintain great products and be a source of innovation for the business. To meet these expectations, engineering teams must have the right culture in place. But what exactly is an “engineering culture”? And how do you build one? In this post, we’ll explore an engineering culture and provide actionable advice for building one in your organization. An engineering culture supports and drives innovation. This type of culture is essential for any company that wants to stay competitive in today’s marketplace. To build an engineering culture, a few key steps need to be taken.  

Create an environment that is conducive to innovation

This means fostering a culture of openness and collaboration. If you are a remote working company then it requires you to use the right tools for innovation. And transparency should be at the forefront when it comes to establishing innovation in your organization.   

Attract and retain top talent

This can be done by offering competitive salaries and benefits, as well as creating opportunities for career growth. It does not mean you need to be part of an association or careers event to do this. It can be simply accomplished by putting content out there on what your company you are and what your team says about working.   

Invest in technology

This will ensure that your team has the tools they need to be efficient and productive. It could be as simple as setting up an ATS (check out everything you need to know about ATS). SIXER Tech products have helped companies to reduce the time of hire by 80% (book a demo to know more), and identify tools as such to increase productivity.   

Encourage continual learning

This can be done by providing training and development opportunities, as well as access to industry-leading resources & mentoring by top management.   

How to communicate your engineering culture with potential candidates

As the competition for top engineering talent increases, it’s more important than ever to make sure your company culture shines through in the recruitment process. Candidates should be able to tell, from the moment they start interacting with your brand, that your company is a great place to work.   

Use modern interview & assessment tech

Developers and tech teams work at the forefront of innovation. But many companies continue to conduct technical interviews with outdated tools or make it a physical engagement.  It’s 2023, and ChatGPT has accomplished more than we even think. Many IT candidates are either in university or working (remotely or hybrid). So provide them flexibility in applying and attending interviews or assessments.  The key change is to adopt an integrated development environment (IDE) built specifically for technical interviews. IDEs allow candidates and interviewers to code, create and collaborate on questions in real-time while giving hiring teams the admin tools they need to make smarter hiring decisions (book a demo to know how SIXER Skills can help)   

Focus interviews or assessments for real-world skills

In a survey of our community of developers, 32% reported that the relevance of questions was the first thing they noticed about an interview process. In another survey, 65% of developers reported that they want more interview questions that test real-world skills. And there was also noticeable interest (15%) in more collaborative question formats. Engineers care about solving exciting, challenging, and relevant technical problems. When interviewing for a role, engineers use the questions the hiring team asks them as a gauge for what problems they would get to solve at the company. In this way, interview questions are a key channel for communicating an engineering team’s culture.