Scaling our mobile engineering team & hiring for potential

Miriam Godinez is our Engineering Manager for the mobile team at Wizeline. This quarter, her team will double in size as Wizeline's mobile practice rapidly expands. Miriam shares her approach to hiring and professional development.

Wizeline needs to hire around 30 mobile engineers right now. As our Engineering Manager for this team, growing at this scale is a major milestone. My current team of 42 capable and creative mobile engineers is going to nearly double by the end of this year. It’s exciting, and if I’m being honest, a little bit scary!

Wizeline takes its culture very seriously, which centers on continuous education and creating opportunities in the tech sector in our communities. Over the last few weeks, I have noticed that many mobile engineering candidates are concerned that they are not “ready” for Wizeline. I can definitely appreciate their hesitation; the team that we have built at Wizeline is very impressive.

The screenshot above shows some of our mobile team earlier this year in March. We had just started the lockdown from COVID-19 and were getting used to our new team meetings.

Gerardo: He joined Wizeline in November of 2018 and is currently an Android Tech Lead. He has grown so fast!
Gonz: He has two careers – engineering and music. He joined Wizeline as a trainee in September 2019, and now, he’s leading the Android team for a large media account.
Victor: He’s an Android Tech Lead with a huge heart willing to help teammates to thrive. He is the most Senior Android Engineer at Wizeline.
Leo: He joined Wizeline in March of this year. Gerardo saw potential in Leo during the hiring process and offered to mentor him. Leo is a fast learner, and in just a few weeks, he developed a project that made us decide to extend an offer.
Paris: He joined Wizeline in October of 2017. Paris is an accessibility expert and has taught classes related to accessibility for years. He lost his sight a few years ago and has become an advocate for building friendly products for people with disabilities.

However, I wanted to share an encouraging messaging to anyone considering a mobile engineering role right now. Many of our “superstar” mobile engineers came to Wizeline when they were just starting out in their careers, and they leveraged the tools available to them at Wizeline to grow quickly.

First things first – what do we look for in a candidate?

Experience and expertise are important, but we also value ability and attitude when interviewing candidates. Are you hungry for a challenge? Are you energized by collaborating with others? Do you seek out additional coursework or education opportunities in your free time? All of these questions are more critical to me than years of experience in your last role.

Here are my top priorities:

#1 Attitude

Attitude is everything. We look for individuals that are open to giving and receiving constructive criticism, can handle stressful situations, and acknowledge when their colleagues do great work. Wizeline is in the professional services industry, so the attitude we bring to our work every day can have a big impact on our success.

#2 Eagerness to learn

Wizeline Academy is our free community-based education program that offers curricula for all disciplines. We have the tools you need to uplevel your skills or stay sharp on the latest technologies. It’s important to me that our teams are willing and eager to invest time in their own education.

#3 Team player

No one is an island at Wizeline. We work in teams constantly – internally and with customers – and we need to maintain clear communication, support each other, and offer constructive feedback. I look for attributes that I would value in a teammate.

#4 Embrace challenges

Building products is hard! We work with large brands that hold Wizeline to high standards. I want to understand if this excites and energizes you.

Who will mentor me if I join Wizeline?

Mentorship is a critical piece of professional development. Rest assured that if you decide to join Wizeline, you will be joining an incredible group eager to invest time in helping you be successful.

For example, the lovely team photographed in a Zoom call above are all working on iOS and Android applications for the U.S. e-commerce platform, Etsy. This team is working directly with Etsy’s product and engineering teams to develop new features that affect their 45 million active users.

From top left to right:

Jorge: Jorge joined Wizeline in August 2016 and is a Tech Lead. Jorge is one of the most senior iOS engineers we have on the team. He loves to help new mobile engineers develop their technical skills. Jorge is well-known in the mobile community for his contributions.
Abel: Abel joined Wizeline in April of 2019, and although he will soon be moving on a new job, Wizeline has been a great environment for Abel to uplevel his skills.
Marsia: Marsia is quite literally juggling work and life beautifully in this photo! You can learn more about Marsia’s time at Wizeline in the video below 👇🏾

Still not sure if you’re “ready” for Wizeline? I encourage you to apply anyway. Our recruiting process looks for abilities – not lack of abilities – and it’s a great opportunity to receive feedback.

Apply today at wizeline.com/careers – I look forward to meeting you.