Teach Me How to Debuggie

If you’ve ever heard us talk about hiring (see here and here) you know one of the biggest hurdles in the early days of theSkimm was hiring engineers. Why? We had no idea how to talk to them (What’s a tech stack? Do we get our own cloud?)

Because we barely knew how to navigate Excel, let alone code, it was difficult for us to determine if potential hires had the necessary skills or experience. It was like trying to interview someone in another language. Literally.

Early Skimm days when we very much needed tech help

Fortunately, we had product- and tech-focused investors and early friends of theSkimm to lean on in those early days. But it turns out there were unexpected upsides to being non-technical co-founders.

1. Our earliest tech hires were, at their core, teachers. They were incredibly patient. They had to be. They were forgiving and intentional with us as we learned to navigate a new aspect of the business. They were thoughtful, and they took the time to make sure everyone around them understood (at least in the broadest sense) what they were working on.
2. They built a culture of teaching. And it’s one of the things we’re proudest of. Even today, the entire tech team continues to educate the rest of HQ about what they’re working on, and they’re always game to put in the extra time where there’s lingering curiosity. Last summer one of our junior engineers even built a course for HQ’rs to learn the basics of coding. More than a third of the team showed up.
3. theSkimm’s engineers don’t just teach the rest of HQ — they teach each other. Our tech team is lean, so everyone works on mission critical projects by necessity. This means that on any given project the stakes are high, and even junior engineers pitch in. Having teachers on the team is essential for these younger engineers to get up to speed quickly, and to help them navigate what would otherwise be a steep learning curve.
4. They are humble and always learning. Our culture of teaching goes hand in hand with a culture of humility. This means even our most senior engineers are always learning too. They host lunch-and-learns within the tech team, to demonstrate new technologies each member is working on. They meet for CS (read: computer science) Book Club, where they discuss materials in programming languages that aren’t a part of our current stack (see, we know things now). They break for tech coffee.
5. They are collaborative and nimble. The culture the tech team has built within the broader organization forms the basis for how they participate in projects — our engineers are assigned to cross-functional teams that come together and disband around projects. This ensures they have the opportunity to work on theSkimm’s complete tech domain, rather than becoming pigeon-holed to specific projects or technologies. But more to come on that…

Simply put, tech is at the foundation of what we’re building here at theSkimm. They enable theSkimm’s assets to come to life and they realize the vision of what this company can be for our audience. It is important to us that they have their own identity, that they build their own traditions, and that they continue teaching and learning as the company continues to scale.

P.S. Want in? Come work with us.