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hiring

Taking bets on candidates

Hiring for early stage companies is hard. You are competing for strong talent against a ton of other companies. As a founder or a hiring manager, your ability to identify candidates to take a bet on can be an asset.

I was a bet candidate

I was a bet hire at Palantir. I didn't have a standard background - since the age of 13 I had always wanted to study Physics and no one could have convinced me otherwise. Because of this I didn't even consider studying anything else. I learnt programming to simulate physics systems, and to analyse and visualise the simulation data. I did not work on side projects or build things for fun. I had done no internships. I had zero experience in tech before joining Palantir.

I still remember my interviews. I could tell that I didn't know enough, but I could also tell that I enjoyed engaging with the questions I was being asked, and I think my genuine interest and engagement with the problems came through.

I was lucky that the hiring manager could see my potential and decided to take a bet on me. Or maybe it had nothing to do with luck, and this was just a reflection of the high-trust high-autonomy culture at Palantir.

Relate to the candidate

Going back to the essentials from the FDE hiring post - those qualities have nothing to do with the tactical specifics of what the candidate knows, and everything to do with who they are as a person. During the interview, you need to relate to the candidate, get to know them as a person and only then you may find out what makes them tick. What are their spikes and what are their kryptonites.

If they are engaged and demonstrate first-principles understanding of the problem, they are probably going to be successful. On the other hand, if they are not engaged and keep trying to reverse-guess what you want to hear from them, maybe not.

An example of a good interview

There is this one interview I shadowed at Palantir that has stuck with me as a master-class in interviewing. The candidate was super passive and giving monosyllabic answers. It was really hard to break through. The interviewer kept asking different questions about their background persistently, trying to get to a topic they would enjoy talking about. Eventually, the interviewer succeeded - the candidate opened up when talking about their interest in foreign films and how that relates to them learning new languages.

It was an absolutely incredible interview. It took a lot of effort but the interviewer finally did manage to relate to the candidate, and understood a bit more about how they could be successful.

Don't shy away from going off-road

The key takeaway is to get to know the candidate. They are a person. They are going to have things that engage them, and things they struggle with. Guide the interview to a place where you find common ground to help the candidate open up. Don't worry about the tactical specifics of what you want to hear from them. Take copious notes or use a tool like Metaview1 and you can always synthesise later.

To conclude

Taking bets on candidates can be a powerful strategy for early-stage companies looking to build exceptional teams. By focusing on a candidate's potential, engagement, and personal qualities rather than just their technical skills or traditional qualifications, you can uncover hidden gems that others might overlook. Remember, the goal is to identify individuals who can grow with your company and contribute meaningfully to its success. As you interview, be willing to go off-script, relate to the candidate on a personal level, and look for signs of genuine interest and problem-solving ability. These "bet candidates" often bring fresh perspectives and a strong drive to succeed, potentially becoming some of your most valuable team members.

Get in touch if you would like to discuss this topic further, or if you think I could help with your hiring process.

  1. I know a cofounder of Metaview personally, but this post was not sponsored by them in any way. Nor do I know if they agree with the thoughts in this post. I genuinely think it's a great product! ↩↩↩

Forward Deployed Engineers and how to hire them

Hiring multi-faceted people who can straddle the boundaries of technical and business problems can be a huge asset for organizations. I met and worked with many such people during my time at Palantir. I also hired a lot of them. This post is about learnings from my time at Palantir as a Hiring Manager for FDEs.

What is an FDE?

A Forward Deployed Engineer is a unique role that Palantir has. The linked blog post is a great intro to the role and what a day in the life of an FDE looks like, but I want to share my perspective and my experience as an FDE, and an FDE hiring manager.

FDEs are generalist problem solvers with technical skills, with a focus on solving important problems. They are able to identify high value problem solving that will have immense business impact -- this requires strong business intuition as well as high user empathy. They are also unfazed by chaos and complexity. In fact, they thrive in environments where there is a lot of uncertainty.

As you can imagine FDEs are notoriously hard to hire. As an interviewer, you are looking for someone who is not set in their ways, but has a high ability to learn and grow. This individual may not necessarily be super experienced -- in fact, in a lot of cases, they will be just starting.

high slope

How to hire them?

I usually think about hiring in terms of Essentials and Unforgivables - qualities that the candidate must have and absolutely should not have.

Essentials:

  • Outcome Oriented: Always keep the goal in mind, always seek to solve problems.
  • Critical Thinker: Not afraid to question authority, and someone who can judge ideas on their own merits.
  • High Chaos Ceiling: Doesn't struggle with ambiguity and chaos.
  • Gritty: This isn't necessarily synonymous with hard worker, though there is a high correlation. Someone who isn't afraid to scale the mountain.

Unforgivables:

  • Goes after the shiny thing: This is the opposite of outcome oriented. Someone who doesn't tie their work to impact.
  • Passive: They tend to wait to be told what to do, and not seek out opportunities to solve problems.
  • Entitled: High maintenance and high ego.

I have found that trying to understand where a candidate stands with these qualities is a good way to get a sense of whether or not they will be successful.

Some questions I ask to suss this out:

  • How did you get from A→B→C and why? How was A→ B different than B→C , what would have happened if you went straight from A→ C?
  • What is the hardest thing you have done/worked on/learned so far? Why was this hard for you?
  • What was the hardest failure you have dealt with? Did you see it coming? How did you salvage the situation? Who did you ask for help?
  • Tell me about a time when you proactively did something outside your day to day responsibility.

But at the end of the day it's about getting to know the person. Understanding what makes them tick, what keeps them going, and why.

The Impact of FDEs

FDEs can be a highly impactful addition to your organization when hired correctly. Their ability to bridge technical solutions with real-world business challenges makes them invaluable in today's complex tech landscape.

FDEs have been a cornerstone of Palantir's success, acting as their "secret sauce" in delivering transformative solutions to their clients. Their versatility, coupled with their technical prowess and business acumen, allows them to drive significant value across various industries and problem domains.

However, identifying and hiring the right FDEs can be a challenging process. It requires a nuanced understanding of the role and a strategic approach to assessing candidates.

Get in touch!

If you're intrigued by the potential of FDEs but find yourself struggling with the hiring process, I'm here to help. Whether you need advice on interview techniques, assistance in defining the role for your organization, or strategies for assessing candidates, feel free to reach out.

Contact me at me@anjor.xyz to discuss how we can improve your hiring process and build a team of high-impact problem solvers. Let's work together to bring the transformative power of FDEs to your organization.