When submitting a solution in C++, please select either C++14 (GCC 6-32) or C++17 (GCC 7-32) as your compiler. ×

By graknlabs, 3 years ago, In English

My name is Vlad and I want to tell a story about how I ended up in the Grakn Labs. Before joining, I already worked for a couple of years in Kyiv and right after the graduation from Polytechnic Institute I moved to London to my current position, but it was a long path.

I was never sure if this whole experience is useful in any way for the real world, as a software engineer, up until joining Grakn Labs. ... a lot of attention during the recruitment process is paid to problem solving skills. We have algorithmic problems as part of our interview process and now we want to find our next engineer here on Сodeforces ...

— When did you start competitive coding?

When I was in the ~7-8 grade, my teacher showed us a website with problems and we got very competitive about it. After that, I was participating in math and informatics competitions up until the end of university

graknworker

— What did you learn/ how did participating in coding competitions impact your skills?

The main impact is boosting logic and STEM-related skills in general. For example, I was not preparing for math or physics competitions explicitly, I didn't 'train' for them in any way, but just from participating in coding competitions, as a bonus, I was taking places in math and physics.

— What's it like working at Grakn Labs as an engineer?

There is a huge difference compared to the rest of the places I worked. I've been a part of 3 different companies in Kyiv and none of them comes close to the level of the community's involvement and interest in Grakn. The majority of engineers I know have a 'job' job and the only goal is to get paid and go home, here we have different attitudes and priorities. We are a team driven by a purpose: to solve the world's most complex problems through, knowledge engineering.

- What type of problems are your working on?

Enterprise programming is significantly different from competitions, it is much more 'slow is smooth, smooth is fast' oriented, but I do have interesting challenges. The project I work on is a tool to test the performance of Grakn (a database). We have to generate data, insert it into the database, make a lot of different queries, measure their speed, correctness and visualize the results in a bunch of charts. It involves a lot of optimizations both on the server and client-side.

We're always looking for the best to round out our team, if you think this sounds like an interesting chance to work on an innovative technology; we'd love to hear from you.

FILL OUT FORM →
  • Vote: I like it
  • +130
  • Vote: I do not like it

»
3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +156 Vote: I do not like it

First of all, I'm very glad to see many private IT companies contribute to the CP community.

Regarding the job prospects, I believe there are many questions you may be asked by candidates, let me phrase a few of them:

  • Why do you want to find your next engineer here on Codeforces? Do you need a person with some specific (CP-related) skills?
  • What are the requirements for the candidate? Do you consider engineers with many years of experience too?
  • What are the benefits working in Graknlabs compared to other IT companies?
  • Do you relocate people or consider working remote too? If you do relocate, what does the relocation package include? Also, what's the current policy in regard to covid?
  • »
    »
    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +36 Vote: I do not like it

    - Why do you want to find your next engineer here on Codeforces? Do you need a person with some specific (CP-related) skills? Codeforces enables us to find engineering talent that we might have otherwise missed. Also, we face lots of algorithmically challenging work, especially the more you get deeper into Grakn [database].

    - What are the requirements for the candidate? Do you consider engineers with many years of experience too? We have as part of our hiring process, candidates take a test via Codility — this allows for engineers with all levels of experience to be considered.

    - What are the benefits working in Graknlabs compared to other IT companies? Aside from working with highly motivated and creative individuals, we've brought together some of the brightest minds in the world to build something revolutionary. Not to mention the stocked kitchen and competitive employee benefits plan.

    - Do you relocate people or consider working remote too? If you do relocate, what does the relocation package include? Also, what's the current policy in regard to covid? We look to relocate all full-time staff but will consider candidates that want to work remote. We will work with individuals during relocation to ensure the transition is smooth and relatively stress-free.

    Our current policy regarding COVID-19 is following the UK government guidelines as well as making our own informed decisions on what is safe and appropriate. Feel free to enquire directly via the application request form, for any further details.

»
3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -15 Vote: I do not like it

Congratulations, Codeforces!